Call For Help
by CleosDeath
Summary: Kalila Naihovic had never considered herself completely reliable, but evil demons, annoying ghosts and amorous vampires? That was just nonsense. At least, she thought it was. OC/OC. Chap 18. No need to read the series. !ON HIATUS!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Just taking my break!"

"When you get back, there's a guy asking for you by the bar."

"What's he look like?"

"I dunno. Lucy just told me to tell you."

I closed the metal door behind me, blocking out most of the loud music from the club. A steady thumping bass could still be felt through the ground, oddly in sync with my own heartbeat, and I was strangely reassured by its presence. I brought the cigarette up to my lips before using my battered old lighter to spark the tip. I took a deep breath of the smoke before blowing it out through my nose.

"Jeez, Kali, it was only an hour ago you said you were quitting for good." I muttered to myself. "Mind you, I've been saying the same thing every day for the past four years."

There was a clattering noise to my right. I quickly checked the alleyway for signs of life. It was probably just a cat or fox, but you could never be too careful these days – the news seemed to pinpoint a different hotspot for perverts every week. Apart from the couple getting freaky with it behind a couple of bins at the end of the alley though, I couldn't spot anything. But then again, I was sure the sound had come from the side of me away from the horny teenagers. I scanned the ground for any trace of small mammals. A slight chill grew up my spine, setting the hairs on the back of my neck on end.

"Woah, you're tetchy tonight. Just relax. It was probably a rat or something. Nothing more." And yet I couldn't help noticing that I was whispering as if trying not to be noticed. Stupid, really, when the red flare from my cigarette was like a beacon for my location. I pulled my knee length coat tighter around me, the October breeze suddenly taking on a new chill.

A wrapper from some sort of fast food item caught my attention as it jumped in the wind about fifteen feet from where I was standing. My imagination must have kicked in at this point because the shadows suddenly appeared a lot darker than they had ten seconds ago, as if they were creeping slowly towards me. I pressed my back against the cold metal of the door.

"Who's there?" I said as bravely as I could, not really thinking about what I was saying. There was no way the shadows were really moving like that. And if they were then it must have been something to do with the lights down the main road. Asking who was there was as redundant as asking a poodle if it knew the time.

But the voice in the back of my head was still screaming at me to run, no matter how hard my common sense was trying to squash it. I jumped a mile into the air when something knocked over a trashcan.

"_Meow_."

I clutched my hand to my heart and sighed in relief.

"Christ alive, you scared me there." I stubbed my cigarette out before leaning down and lifting the skinny tabby cat that was purring around my feet into my arms. "What are you doing, creeping around at this time of night, eh? Don't you have a home to go to? Mind you, from the state of your fur I'd say that was a no."

The tabby continued purring while licking my chin affectionately. I glanced back at where the unearthly darkness had previously haunted. There was nothing there. It was just an ordinary alleyway. I cursed myself for letting my imagination take control of me so easily, and then started laughing as the cat batted the silver bell on my thong choker about happily.

"Alright, alright, I get it, you like me." As if in answer the cat looked straight into my eyes and cocked its head to the side.

"_Meow_."

"Look, I've got to get back to work. If you're still here later I'll bring some tuna or something, ok?" I placed the cat back on the ground where it sat, staring expectantly up at me.

I hadn't even shut the door behind me before Beth started without looking up from her magazine, "Kali, Lucy said the man's still there waiting for you."

"Did you tell her I was on my break?"

"Yep, but apparently the man is quite insistent. Refused the other girls and all, said it was a matter of some urgency or something like that. Lucy don't think he's a normal customer."

I frowned as I shrugged away my coat and hung it on the rack. "Really? Then who is it?"

Beth turned a page absent-mindedly. "Well, I don't know, do I?"

I marched across the small lounge-slash-kitchen area the employees used when not working, briefly checking my makeup in the mirror on the way, and strolled out into the main floor. _Poppy's_ was one of the smaller clubs in this section of north London, but it still managed to pack a crowd on Friday nights. I glanced briefly at the small stage in the centre of the room. One of the more risqué dancers I had only spoken to three times was busy shaking her thing for the eyes of the men sitting at the tables. I spotted Lucy chatting with one of the younger customers nearby and made a beeline for their table.

Her kitty ears bobbed when I tapped her on the shoulder, smiling sweetly at the man opposite.

"Oh, Kali, hi!" she said in that cherry Liverpudlian accent of hers. She indicated the boy. "This is Steve. He was just telling me about his yacht."

"Really?" I managed to sound impressed. I doubted Steve even owned a dog, yet alone a yacht. His grin broadened as his eyes swept my frame, finally resting on an area several inches south of my face. I let him look, knowing that if I slapped one more customer then I would be fired for sure. After all, the whole job description of a bunny girl was to let gross men ogle your body, while pretending you liked them. "Sorry to interrupt that conversation then, but Beth said there was a man waiting for me?"

"Oh, yes!" Lucy turned and peered around the swarming clientele to get a look at the bar. She finally pointed. "That's him – the one in the weird shirt with the frills. Like a gay pirate or something."

I laughed, kissed Lucy on the cheek and made my way back to the bar, knowing that Steve would most likely be staring at the cottontail on my rump. I swept a strand of long bright red hair out of my face as I perched on the stool next to the so-called 'gay pirate'.

"Hi there." The pirate looked up from his drink, which I noted looked rather like a straight whiskey. I don't know how he managed to drink it like that. It always tasted so much better when on the rocks. "I heard you were looking for me."

The face looking back at me was surprising. From the fact that he had asked for me specifically, I thought he must have been here before. But I doubt I would have forgotten him. His features were flawless, his wavy blonde hair falling loosely around perfect blue eyes. He looked like a thirty-something year old choir boy, much less a 'gay pirate'. He smiled and for some reason I felt myself shivering. No matter how gorgeous this man might be, there was just something about him that had me recoiling internally.

"Kalila Naihovic?" His voice rolled off his tongue like silk. There was a clash as Philippa, the barmaid, dropped a glass several feet away. She mumbled an apology and began to clear it away. The choir boy hadn't even flinched at the sound. I nodded in reply. "I believe I have everything I need now."

"Wha-" I didn't even finish my sentence. The man had stood, swept on his jacket and was already half way across the room towards the door. I stared after him. "Well, that was weird."

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	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Hannah, you up?" I called into the little flat that was my home. I swung my coat onto one of the many hooks beside the door. I heard a half-hearted reply come from the living room. "You will not believe the night I've had! I swear I must be going insane! I mean, just five minutes ago a pigeon up and landed right on my head! On my head! I can safely say that that has never-" I did a double take as I glanced around the small room. "Oh, hello."

"Look, Kali, you've got visitors." Hannah walked up to me and yanked me into the room. She looked like she had just been woken up; still in her pink pyjamas, her dirty blonde hair pulled into an extremely messy ponytail that was so off centre it was almost by her ear. Her brown eyes stared at me. I could tell that she was not a happy bunny. She gritted her teeth and added slowly, "At four in the morning."

I looked at the die shaped watch that swung from a chain around my wrist. "Actually it's four thirty."

She pulled me closer so that I could see each individual strand of hair on her head.

"Exactly."

She promptly pushed me away and stomped towards her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her with an echoing thud that made her point most eloquently. I turned back to the guests.

"Sorry about her. It's the stress of having a nine-to-five job. Well, it's more eight-to-six with her but that- Good lord you're gorgeous!" The male guest had just taken off his hat – a cool looking fedora – or was it a trilby? No, fedora – and placed it on his knees. I gawked at him. Simply gawked. Manners be damned, I liked gawking! His shoulder length auburn hair framed his masculine face, the little stubble he had setting off his jaw nicely. His bright blue eyes were cold but I saw a twitch of a smile cross his expression. He stood from the ratty brown couch and offered a hand. He was probably over six foot tall, two or three inches taller than me perhaps, but with my five inch heels I found myself looking down at him.

"My name is Adrian Tomas. It is a pleasure to meet you." His voice had a Germanic tint to it and I found myself ignoring his hand and gaping. He waved at the person with him, but I barely noticed whether they were male or female. "This is my wife, Nell."

My mind snapped together and my lips formed an involuntary pout. Damn it.

"Hi." The other guest said happily. I looked at wifey hoping to God that I could hate her, but all I found was a pretty dark haired woman whom looked far too nice for me to dislike. Damn it again. She cast a glance around the room. I didn't fail in spotting the American accent. "Love what you've done with this, by the way. Did you draw all this yourself?"

"About a third of it. Hannah did a lot too, and we get friends to add their own pieces when they're here."

"I am sure your landlord must be thrilled with your vandalism."

Nell hit her husband on the arm. I just laughed. More than half the purple walls were covered in marker pen doodles and notes, and sure, it wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but I liked the personal touch it added to the apartment.

"Well, we did ask him if we could redecorate." I told them while going over and picking through a pile of rubbish on the coffee table. "This is us redecorating." I held the pen I had managed to coerce from underneath a book out to Nell. She looked at it as if she expected it to explode. "Here. Add something."

"What?"

"To the wall. Draw something." She just stared.

"I… umm… I'm really bad at art."

I shoved then pen into her hand. "Then draw stickmen or something. I don't care."

"Why?" she asked as I made my way over to the few worktops and cupboards around a sink, fridge and beat up oven that made up our kitchen.

"Why do I not care or why do I want you to draw something?" I shut the cupboard door and held out the jar. "Coffee?"

"The second one. And no thanks. I know Adrian says it won't do the baby any harm, but I've already had two cups today and I don't want to risk it." I noticed for the first time the slight paunch around her belly. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable by staring too long at her preggers' bump, I switched the kettle on and indicated the jar to Adrian. He shook his head.

"I dunno, because you're here and you might as well. Do you need a reason for something like this?" I added a good five teaspoons of coffee granules into a mug. If I had one weakness, it would definitely be my love of excruciatingly strong caffeinated drinks. Nell seemed to consider this for a moment before decisively taking the lid off the pen and walking to a clean space of the wall. She looked up at me.

"What should I draw?"

I sighed.

"Anything. A seahorse doing the cancan. A llama with X-ray vision frying a small Peruvian village. Captain Jack Sparrow. Hang on, scratch the last one, I think Jacky-boy's already on that wall there somewhere. Just draw what you want." She thought for a few seconds before finally starting to mark something on the paint. I poured the water from the kettle into the mug then went around to see what she had done. She stepped away with a triumphant look on her face. She had drawn a traditional smiley face, like the ones you find on buttons, but this one had two fangs protruding from its smile. I nodded. "Nice. Simple, yet very cool."

She smiled at her husband and handed me back the pen. "Thanks."

Adrian looked far less impressed as he took a seat back on the couch. I sat on one of the pieces of cheap garden furniture that were dotted around. Nell plopped down next to Adrian.

"Now if we could kindly discuss what we came here to."

"Oh yeah," I then realised that these were two complete strangers that had been waiting for me in my apartment. At four thirty in the morning, Hannah would add. "Ok, so I guess I should say something like 'who the hell are you and what are you doing in my flat?' Would that be normal?"

Adrian narrowed his eyes. "Yes."

"Ok, then who the hell are you and what are you doing in my flat?"

"We have reason to believe that earlier tonight you were contacted." Well, that made complete sense. I dug my phone out of my jeans' pocket and checked to see if anyone had called while I was at work. There were only the usual three calls from my ex, which I promptly ignored. "I do not mean someone phoned you."

I raised one eyebrow. Huh? Someone contacted me earlier tonight about these two but didn't use a phone? I was pretty sure I would remember if someone had told me about this, and seeing as I didn't have a computer, email was out. That left smoke messages and carrier pigeons. Oooh! Maybe that pigeon from earlier was actually a messenger!

"Adrian, you're confusing her." I realised my eyebrow was almost touching my hairline and quickly brought it down to the same level as the other one.

"No, I'm not confused." I said slowly. Nell looked surprised. "I guess I shouldn't have just waved that pigeon away then, but who really uses carrier pigeons these days, I mean, they're not very common are they, and maybe you should have just rung or something and then this confusion would have never happened, then again, if I had just bothered to check for notes on the pigeons leg or whatever they have then it would have been alright as well, I guess it's both our faults then, isn't it?"

I was met by blank stares.

"What are you talking about?" Adrian asked as if he thought I was insane, which, frankly, I was beginning to think I was.

"Carrier pigeons."

"Why?"

"I dunno. What were we talking about before that?"

"Look, Kalila-," Nell spoke up.

"It's actually pronounced Kah-LEE-lah, but Kali's good."

"-look, Kali, what my darling husband is trying and failing to explain is that earlier tonight someone spoke to you who we're currently looking for. It's important we find him."

"Oh, ok then." I took a sip of the coffee and sighed with joy. "What they look like?"

Adrian's lips thinned, "We don't know."

"Huh? Then what's their name?"

"Xander."

I searched my not-always-accurate memory for someone with that name. I came up blank. "Sorry, the only person I know called that is that guy from Buffy. God, was he useless, he just followed Willow around like some lost puppy!"

Nell was trying not to laugh. Adrian looked pissed. It was like they were sharing an inside joke that I wasn't privy to. I never liked inside jokes. Well, only when I wasn't one of the people on the inside. Otherwise, they were cool. I'm a hypocrite, so sue me. Nell got serious again and looked at her husband. After a few seconds he nodded. It was rather freaky to watch them seemingly communicate in silence.

"Kali, I can guarantee you that we are not insane and that what I'm about to tell you is the absolute truth." I was starting to get nervous now. Nell's words suddenly gave me the urge to chuck these two out on the street. Whenever someone said 'I'm not insane' or 'this is the truth' the outcome was never good. "This Xander… why we're looking for him… well… he's a demon."

I thought for a moment.

"You mean," I started slowly, "he's good with the ladies? Ooh! There was a guy earlier that I spoke to who I swear could charm the pants off a nun if he wanted! Although I thought he said his name was John…"

"No."

I frowned.

"I mean he's a minion from Abaddon."

My frown deepened. "Is that in Essex?"

"That's Abberton." Adrian pointed out. Nell cast a curious glance his way. "I once knew someone from nearby."

"Then where's Abaddon? Devon? No, wait that's Appledore."

Nell sighed. "Abaddon is the traditional Hebrew name for what you might know as Hell."

"Oh, that would explain why I hadn't heard of it, I was brought up Mus-" I blinked. "Wait. What?"

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	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Of course, it's not really Hell, but it's where the religious connotation comes from."

"Hannah!"

"Kali, I'm telling the truth. You have to believe us. This demon-"

"Hannah!"

The door slammed open. "What the hell do you want now? We out of yoghurt or something?"

I pointed accusingly at the two guests, my eyes bugging out of my head in what I was sure was not an attractive expression. "Hannah!"

"I'm here!" she yelled from right beside me. "What's wrong?"

"Kali, this is important, the fact that Xander was talking to you is not a good thing. We need to find out why. There've been rumours that a demon lord is looking for a mortal woman for something and that can only equal bad news for all of us." Nell was desperately trying to explain. The words flew out of my head almost as soon as they were there. I could sense no lies from her, but that only meant things were worse. These people actually believed in demons and hell!

"Crazy people!" I screamed. I realised I was being slightly hysterical about this, but I felt as if I had every right to over-react. "Out! Now!"

"Kali, listen to me!" my hysterics seemed to be spreading to Nell now. She looked frantic. Hannah stood like she wasn't sure what to do.

"Out!" I yelled as I pointed to the door as if they were previously unable to understand what I meant.

"Kali-"

"Hasi," Adrian interrupted calmly, "I think we have overstayed our welcome."

They looked at each other for a few seconds before Nell stood and grumpily marched out of the room towards the front door. Adrian nodded politely at us and handed me a business card, which I promptly shoved into my pocket intending to throw it into the recycling bin when I next walked past, before following. It was after we had heard the door click shut behind them that Hannah turned to me.

"What was that all about?"

* * *

As I told Hannah of everything that had happened since she had gone back to bed, her expression became gradually more and more confused, but she didn't voice any of her questions. When I had finished she looked at me carefully, as if thinking about how to say what she was thinking.

"And you didn't believe them?" she finally asked.

"Well, naturally. Who could believe in all that rubbish?"

"This _is_ you I'm talking to, yes? The one who's always going on about how there could easily be more than meets the eye to this world? That you?" she peered at me incredulously. I just placed the large spoonful of rhubarb yoghurt in my mouth and glared. "Honey, I'm not saying I believe them, 'cause frankly I think you're right and there's a few screws loose, but I'm saying it's not like you to dismiss them so quickly."

I swallowed the yoghurt. "There's a difference in believing that the yeti or chupacabra _could possibly_ exist and believing straight up when someone tells you you've spoken to a demon from Hell."

"Abaddon."

"Same diff, don't go all technical on me now just because you're Jewish."

Hannah ignored this comment. "This from the woman who only three days ago was spouting about how you could believe anything if it was silly enough."

"It's 'I can believe anything, providing that it is quite incredible' and it was Oscar Wilde making an ironic point about society." I told her before gulping down another spoon of yoghurt.

"God, that was another Wilde? Christ woman, how about reading something by someone else for a change?" I narrowed my eyes at her. She knew damn well I read other books. I just read Oscar Wilde more. "Anyway, what's that one about heaven having more things? That one would apply here."

"'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies'?"

"That's the one."

"That's Shakespeare. And one of the most famous quotes of all time. You should know it." She just shrugged. I sighed at her ignorance of literature. "And if we're really going to have a quotations battle than I guess I should bring out 'The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible'. To me Abaddon is definitely under the 'invisible' category."

"Another Wilde?" she asked. I nodded. "I don't get it."

"Never mind then."

Hannah crunched on her piece of toast. "What you going to do now then?"

I stood up, dunked my empty yoghurt pot into the bin and my teaspoon onto the growing pile of dirty dishes in the sink. "Now," I said facing her again, "I am going to go to bed before I have to get up and go to work again."

"Pleasant dreams."

* * *

Saturday nights were always _Poppy's_ busiest night of the week, even in this modern age where Thursdays attracted so much mysterious attention. In between the various drink orders and mindless chatter from the customers I barely had enough time to check my reflection, something that according to staff rules had to be done at least once every hour. No one wanted a bunny with eyeliner halfway down their face.

In fact, I was so exhausted by the end of my eight hour shift that on my way to the bus stop I barely paid attention to where I going. Even when I bumped into someone straight on and ricocheted a good foot backwards I didn't really notice who I was apologizing to.

"Hello again." I heard something smash nearby and looked up at the source of the silky smooth voice that I remembered so clearly. The choir boy from last night stood in front of me with a small smile on his face that made the little voice in my head scream. I shoved it down. What could be so bad about a plain old man? Not that he was plain. Or old.

"Oh, hi, sorry again, not really paying attention." I started around him heading to the bus stop a hundred yards away. To my surprise he walked next to me. I got more nervous. What if he was actually some creepy stalker guy planning on raping me? "You… erm… you going this way too?"

He nodded towards the little red hut that made the bus shelter. I mentally sighed. Creepy stalker guys planning on raping someone didn't just take the bus, did they? I ignored the voice that asked me what kind of reasoning was that.

"So, uh, you know my name," I tried to make conversation, thinking that maybe it would quench my unreasonable fear, "but I don't know yours. What is it?"

He looked at me for a second.

"Alexander."

Something clicked in my head at the same time a street light shattered nearby. I stopped mid-stride. "You wouldn't shorten it sometimes by any chance? I don't know, to something like, say, Xander?"

His grin broadened and the paving stone he was standing on cracked. I was seriously freaked now. Suddenly his hand was around my wrist and he was pulling me closer.

"So they found you already? They've gotten faster."

Instinct chose this moment to kick in full drive. Before I knew what I was doing my leg was bent upwards, my knee squarely in the man's groin. Xander looked surprised for a split-second before grabbing his good parts and toppling over, releasing me from his grasp as he did so. I acted on impulse and was halfway across the road before daring to look back.

Xander was standing straight again and walking calmly towards me, his gaze one of pure hatred. The fact that he had recovered so fast from such an accurate knee shot shook me and the momentary lapse in concentration meant that I had to narrowly avoid being hit by a black taxi. The driver yelled something but I didn't make it out as I hurried on. I silently thanked the fact that I was a city girl through and through and therefore among the best at dodging busy traffic.

I risked a glance over my shoulder again as I made it to the other side of the road. Despite his slow gait and my panicked dash, Xander had somehow managed to decrease the gap between us. I froze terrified, desperately wanting someone to help. Could no one see that this man was trying to attack me? Why weren't they doing anything? I needed some help! Something! Anything! Just help!

Xander toppled under the weight of the huge pit-bull terrier that had sprung into the middle of the road from nowhere. I didn't hesitate as a red double-decker bus pulled in before me into the stop. I jumped on as soon as the door creaked open. I slammed my oyster card down on the register and looked at the driver. He seemed surprised by my hurry.

"Just drive!" I pleaded with him. He blinked a few times before nodding and putting his foot down. I made my way down the almost empty bus to a seat near the back, peering out behind to check what had happened to Xander. I caught a glimpse of the pit-bull flying through the air before we turned a corner and my vision was obscured.

I took large deep breaths and tried to calm down. The teenage girls a few seats in front of me gave me some odd looks but I didn't care, I was too wound up trying to work out what had just happened. This man whom I had been warned about not twenty four hours ago shows up and tries to kidnap me? No, I shook my head; he didn't actually try to do anything other than grab my wrist. It was just this feeling I got from him that had me convinced that was what he was going to do. I needed to be rational though. People didn't just exude danger. Well, not to that extent anyway. It was probably just that my subconscious had been affected by what Nell had said last night and was making stuff up, that was all.

But then, how could he recover so fast from a groin shot? Easy, I had simply missed and only got him in the thigh. Although I had been pretty sure at the time that my aim was accurate, but everyone could be wrong once in a while. His speed could simply be put down to the fact that he wasn't running in five-inch heels. No matter how confident I was at my abilities in heel-athletics that must have made a difference.

And the terrier flying through the air?

I sighed and realised there was only one thing I could do.

* * *

It had taken me a seriously long time to reach the house in London, considering the relatively short distance, but I had insisted on taking no less than eleven buses, and had back-tracked thrice, just to make sure I wasn't being followed. I looked at my watch. The hands indicated that it was nearing eight. The small glimmer of sunlight over the buildings confirmed this.

The house I stood in front of screamed of money and I grumbled at life's injustice. I pulled out the small white business card and checked the address again. Yes, it was the right place.

I trudged up the path to the front door and, with a slight hesitation, pressed the doorbell. I waited and impatiently drummed my fingers on the doorframe. After a good five minutes, the door finally swung open.

My question burst forth loudly from my mouth instantly.

"What the hell is going on?"

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"Excuse me?"

I blinked. "You're not Nell."

"Well, no." The brown haired woman cocked her head at me. I noticed that she had that medical condition that made her eyes different colours. Either that or they were contacts, but somehow she didn't seem like the type of person who would wear such startling different colours. One was the lightest grey, the other a dark brown. They were pretty cool. What was the name for the condition again? Chroma-something-or-other? Didn't it start with an h? She started talking again and it brought me back to the world of the living. "Are you looking for her? She doesn't live here I'm afraid."

"Yeah, um, I must have the wrong address. Hang on." I dug into my pocket again and brought out the business card. Then I checked the house number in front of me. They matched. That didn't make any sense.

"Can I see?" the woman asked. I held the card out to her and she took it. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Why would you think Nell lives here?"

"What? Because her husband gave this to me."

"And it clearly has _my_ husband's name at the top. See?" She indicated the name on the card to me. For the first time I actually read it. In my haste I had simply assumed it was Adrian's – I mean, who gives out someone else's business card to people? – but now I clearly noted that the card indeed read 'Christian J. Dante', not 'Adrian Tomas'. The headache that had been forming in the back of my mind increased.

"But…" I didn't really know what to say. The events of the night and my exhaustion from earlier were starting to get to me.

"Hmm." The woman looked thoughtful. "Why would Adrian give you Christian's business card?"

I rubbed my forehead, trying to think and not collapse into sleep. "How should I know? Wait. You know Adrian?" I looked up at her.

"Of course." She obviously realised that my mental state was not at its best. Something akin to pity crossed her eyes. "Look, why don't you come inside and have some coffee or something while I give Adrian a call? You look shattered."

"Yeah I am, thanks." She opened the door wide for me and I stepped through into the pretty house that was so rare in London. She led me through to the kitchen, where she poured some water into a kettle and turned it on. I dumped myself in the chair she waved at.

"I'm Allie, by the way."

"Kali." I told her, still trying to get my thoughts in order.

"So, how do you know Adrian and Nell?" she asked as she placed two mugs onto the worktop and tea spooned what I thought was a miniscule amount of instant coffee into both.

"I don't, well, not really, I met them once, yesterday." She gave me a confused look. I didn't blame her; I was pretty darn confused myself. "They were trying to tell me something and I wasn't really listening, but now I think I'm going to have to if I want to keep my sanity intact."

"Ah, I know what you mean." She turned to get the kettle which had just boiled and I sneakily tipped more coffee granules into the mug nearest me. There was no need to freak this woman out with my near dead taste-buds. She returned with the water and had barely stopped pouring it into the cup before I seized it and gulped greedily. Coffee made everything better. Allie gave me an odd look.

"Caffeine addict." I told her.

She rolled her eyes, "I'll go tell my husband you're here. He might know what's going on."

"Thanks."

It was less than ten seconds before she returned. I blinked at the speed. I hadn't heard her call anyone, and it was far too short a time for her to run around the house.

"He's coming. He said it was important that you not leave." Allie smiled as she said this, but there was something in her voice. She was worried about something. About what I couldn't tell, but obviously her husband had said more to her. And why would he be worried that I would leave? I suddenly had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Kalila." I turned at the sound of my name and was met by a dark haired man walking into the room. A boy of about four or five was perched rather precariously on his back, smiling happily. I noticed the child's eyes were also mismatched with that condition which name still eluded me. The man approached and offered a hand. "It's a pleasure."

I was taken rather off guard by his politeness and suddenly felt the need to stand and shake his hand in an equally proper manner. He had some form of European accent that reminded me of somewhere vaguely Germanic, but the specific origin escaped me.

"Er, same."

"Kaleeeeeeela!" the boy squealed and giggled. An involuntary smile grew on my face at his cuteness. "Kaleeeeeeela!"

"Come on Joe," Allie walked over and lifted the boy from his father's back, placing him on his feet, "it's time for bed."

Bed? But it was sunrise?

"But I'm an ogre! Rargh!" the boy, Joe, I assumed, started stomping around in a circle, growling. Allie patted him on the head.

"And even ogres need sleep," she said. Joe turned to me and roared. I couldn't help laughing. "Sorry, he watched Shrek yesterday." She turned back to the boy that was chewing on his father's sleeve. Christian looked rather unimpressed. "Come on, I think Donkey's calling you."

"Donkey!" the boy squealed and ran straight out of the room, followed closely by his mother. Christian went to the tap and washed the drool off his sleeve.

"Sorry about that, but I did not think you would arrive so soon." He turned and noticed my puzzled expression. "You are confused, no doubt."

"Y'think?"

"Please take a seat." I did so and Christian sat in the chair opposite mine at the table, his dark eyes seemingly scrutinizing my every move. I subconsciously reached for the coffee and took several large gulps to calm my nerves. For some reason, I was wary of this man, as if he was hiding vast quantities of power that I didn't understand. But that couldn't be right. He was just a normal guy. Yep, normal. Normal, normal, normal. "I believe it would be best if you first asked the questions that are troubling you."

The first question that came to my mind was the most trivial, but I blurted it out nonetheless, "Why do I recognise your name from somewhere?"

He sighed. "I am an author, you may have heard of some of my books." He answered as if it wasn't important. Which it probably wasn't. But still. A girl could be curious sometimes.

"What books?"

"A series titled_ The Book of Secrets_."

I thought back. That rang a bell somewhere in my mind. "I think my roommate has read those, but I'm not sure, I tend not to read all those modern novels." I suddenly realised that might be rude. "I mean-"

Christian smiled and waved the comment away. "It's fine."

I settled myself further into the seat and propped my elbows on the table, preparing to get serious. "Ok, question two – why did Adrian give me _your_ business card?"

"I'm afraid that is my fault. I had not anticipated the need to contact you so soon and only arrived in London yesterday afternoon. Adrian was doing me a favour in talking to you when I could not." I thought about it. That surprisingly made sense. Although, it did raise a whole bunch of new questions. But better to get the questions I already had sorted first.

"And why is Allie suddenly worried about something?" Christian looked surprised for a moment that I had noticed Allie's concern. I felt the need to explain. "I'm pretty perceptive when it comes to emotions."

Christian's eyes narrowed slightly and that scrutinizing feeling increased. "Allegra is simply concerned about having you in the house while Josef is here. Unnecessarily so, I must add, since this house is well protected."

"What? Why would she think I was a danger to Josef? Ok, so the one time I tried babysitting the kid did end up having to get stitches, but that was her own damn fault for sliding down the banister when I was on the phone, and I in no way was held responsible for it. I'm a nice person! I don't hurt kids!"

"It is not you she is worried about, but the being currently tracking you."

I suddenly felt the urge to smack him in the face. Why did all these people choose to speak in goddamn riddles all the time? If I didn't get some proper answers soon then I'd… Well, I don't know what I'd do – I'd probably be too gaga to do anything really.

"Explain." I said forcefully and then added for emphasis, "Now."

"First I need to know how much Adrian told you."

"He said something about a demon called Xander contacting me? Only, at the time I thought it was a load of bull, but now…" my sentence trailed off. Now what? What did I think about all this? I knew something was going on – something weird – and I also knew that I had seen some pretty freaky stuff this morning. There was definitely something odd about Xander. But a demon? That was rather farfetched.

"Kalila-" Christian started solemnly.

"Kali."

"- your view of the world so far has been limited." He carried on as if I hadn't interrupted. "You have only seen a glimmer of what is really out there. Don't be insulted, I mean no offence. It is simply the way things are. You disregarded Adrian and Nell before they even had time to explain. I believe this is because of your fear. Fear to admit the darkness that lies all around you. And yet I think that you know it's there, whether you want to admit it or not. You know there is something fundamentally wrong with your view of the world, but do not know what. I'm afraid the time has come to face your fears and discover the truth."

I was silent for a few seconds, trying to absorb what he had told me.

"That sounds like the script of some really bad horror flick."

He cracked a smile. "Well, I am a novelist."

"Uh-huh." I took a more socially acceptable sip of coffee, not quite sure whether Christian was trying to pull my leg with all this 'darkness of the world' crap. As Hannah had pointed out to me yesterday, I had always been open-minded about what humans knew. It wasn't as if we had answers for everything. And certain myths like that of the Mongolian Death Worm could be true. There was no science against it. The huge snake-like worm that haunted the dunes of the Gobi desert may well just be an undiscovered species. After all, people used to think that the pigmy rhino was a unicorn. But that was different. There was logic behind those arguments. It wasn't my subconscious knowledge of mysterious beings or worlds. It was just not letting bias restrict my beliefs. I decided I should hear Christian out, and then judge whether I believed him or not. "And what is this 'darkness that lies around me'?"

Christian thought about this for a moment, as if debating whether to trust me or not. It was kind of too late for that now though; if he thought he was getting rid of me about saying all those things he was mistaken. Finally, he seemed to come to a conclusion. "I am not mortal."

Now I knew he was bluffing. There was no such thing as immortality. I rolled my eyes obviously. "Ok then, so if I take that bread knife and stab you in the stomach you'll be fine and dandy?"

His eyes narrowed. "I would be less than pleased, but yes, no lasting damage would occur."

I sighed heavily. "Fine, so tell me, what are you if not mortal?"

_---_

_Review?_


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry about the wait. First my beta-reader was away, and then I went to Paris for the week. _

**Chapter Five**

"I am a Moravian Dark One."

"And I'm an Egyptian Moon Dancer!" I said without thinking. Coming out with random names had always been somewhat a forte of mine, especially when joking. Christian cocked his head to the side.

"I highly doubt that. Egyptian Moon Dancers tend to be… how should I say…of the smaller frame."

I blinked several times. "What now?" Christian smiled. My brain sorted part of the muddle out and I grasped what he was saying. I bypassed the whole Moon Dancing tale and focused on the more scientifically possible part of his statement. "I'm not fat!"

It was clearly not what Christian had expected.

"What?"

"You just called me fat!"

"No I didn't." There was a slight panic in his voice. He had obviously been forced to learn in the past what a fatal mistake it was to insult a woman's weight. I was getting pretty panicky myself at this point, but I'm a shallow creature.

"Yes you did! You said 'of the smaller frame'! That counts as calling me fat!"

"No, I simply meant-"

"Is it the jeans? Do they shorten my figure and make me bulge in places I don't want to bulge?" I stood and turned, trying desperately to inspect my body. Hey, it was my livelihood after all! "I wasn't too sure about them when I bought them, but Hannah said they showed my ass off in a good way and I didn't see any trouble with the front view either, and I've always thought the skinny fit suited me, so it was a done deal. Is it the shirt then? Is it bagging out at the stomach like some mutant kangaroo? Should I throw it away? Maybe I should. It's pretty old now anyway. But I bought it at my first festival and it kind of reminds me of that. Besides, all my other clothes are in the wash so I didn't really have a choice today. And the pattern goes with my shoes and I love these shoes so much and it's difficult to find anything that matches the colours so well and-"

I continued rambling. Christian just sat and stared. I don't think he was used to such girly fashion details being yelled at his face.

I finally ended my rant and took a deep breath to replace the lost oxygen in my lungs.

"Well?"

"Well what?" Christian asked almost timidly.

"Well, what do you say?"

"I say," he looked as if he was thinking very hard about what to say next. Probably scared I'd go off on another girl-fest. "that all I meant was Egyptian Moon dancers are all very short and slender-"

"I knew it! I-"

"-And you are at least six foot tall with ample curves… Good curves! Not fat. No." It sounded like he was going to put 'please don't hurt me' on the end of that sentence.

"Oh." Slightly embarrassed, I sat down again and calmly took another sip of coffee. Christian just stared at me as if I was about to explode into a bunny rabbit. "So…" I tried to remember what we were talking about. "Oh yeah, so what is a _Moravian Dark One_?"

It didn't look like Christian appreciated the fake scary voice or hand wiggling as I said that. I shrugged.

"We are beings like mortal men but with certain differences. We cannot die by natural means and it is exceptionally challenging to kill us. We have no real fondness of sunlight and many live only by night. But most importantly, we are born without a soul." I let him talk despite my disbelief. It was only polite. He paused. Then added in a hurry. "Oh, and we survive by drinking the blood of the living."

I kept my face and voice blank of emotion.

"Vampire? Seriously?"

"Moravian Dark One."

"Vampire?"

He sighed. "We are the origin of that particular legend, yes, but we are not the evil creatures of the underworld which Hollywood portrays."

"Vampire?"

"_Moravian Dark One._"

"You actually believe that you're a vampire?"

"_Moravian Dark One._"

"You seriously completely utterly believe that you're a vampire?"

"_Moravian Dark One._ Oh for God's sake." Christian gave up and leaned forwards. I watched wide-eyed as two long fangs suddenly protruded from his mouth. I was silent as he sat back, a triumphant gleam to his eyes.

"They could be fake." I pointed out.

His eyes narrowed. He stood and walked over to the countertop. I squealed as he violently plunged the aforementioned bread knife into his aforementioned stomach before pulling it out again. Blood gushed out of the wound.

"What was that for?" I yelled.

"Just watch." He said in frustration. I did and found my common sense positively breaking down as I saw the edges of his wound slowly pull themselves back together. No one could heal that fast. He waited until all that remained was a faint scar before sitting back down. I blinked.

"It could be a fake knife."

"And the blood?"

"You could be a magician."

"No."

"_I_ could be a magician."

"What?"

"Don't insult my logic!"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

By this point my head was spinning. I seriously needed some more coffee. And a cigarette. And alcohol. Lots of alcohol. Then maybe this wouldn't seem quite so preposterous. Vampires didn't exist. They just didn't. They were up there with the Easter bunny and Batman. And despite just how awesome Batman was, he was definitely not real. Demons and vampires in two days, wow, someone was messing with my head here. And whoever it was was in for some trouble of their own.

"I need a cigarette." I grumbled while rubbing my forehead. I pushed the chair back and started towards the front door, thinking it wasn't the best idea to light up in a house with a little kid. A magical vampire kid. Christ.

"I would not advise leaving the house." Christian spoke up. I violently turned to face him.

"Oh, wouldn't you? Well, I wouldn't advise telling a complete stranger that vampires and demons are real and completely screwing with their brain, but you don't see me acting like a pompous ass, do you?" I shouted before slamming the door behind me. Ok, so there was a little pompous ass there, but who could blame me?

I had barely time to dig into my purse to find my pack before an arm reached out of the house and yanked me back inside. Christian whacked the door shut and shoved me against it. He stared intently into my face. The anger in his eyes left me more than a little frightened.

"Do you not understand the situation?" he growled under his breath. "There is a highly dangerous servant of a demon lord looking for you. While you are inside the walls of this house you are safe, but if you take so much as a tiny step out of that door you put yourself in mortal peril. Now, while I personally have no trouble with watching you die gruesomely, the fact that you've been picked specifically is not good. So while we try to work out just why this mess has occurred, you will stay put. Is that clear?"

I gulped and nodded. Christian backed away and stalked to the kitchen, leaving me free to move again.

"God, PMS much?" I muttered under my breath when he disappeared around the corner. I swear I heard Christian growl in reply. An actual growl. Vampires are weird.

Not that I believed he was a vampire.

There were steps thudding towards me and I turned to find Allie making her way down the stairs.

"Christian, I told you not to scare her."

"She deserved it!" he called back from the kitchen.

"I was just trying to have a smoke!"

"Well don't!"

"Well-"

"Look," Allie interrupted before a major argument broke out, "if you really need a cigarette, which, by the way, I think is a disgusting and stupid habit and I hope you quit in the future and don't die of lung cancer, but that's just my opinion, I can put some new wards up so you can have a little space outside to yourself. And then we can all be a happy family and not rip each other's heads off, yes?"

Several things were running through my head at that. "I don't know about the last one, somehow I doubt me and Christian will ever be part of the same _happy family_, but yeah that sounds great thanks, only… err… what's a ward? Apart from the hospital kind, that is."

"It's sort of like a protective spell, but different."

Right, that made sense. Demons, vampires and now protective spells. These people were not right in the head. Still, if it meant I got to smoke without Christian trying to kill me…

"Oh, ok. Thanks."

* * *

I hadn't really expected a cigarette to suddenly make everything seem clear and perfect in my head and solve the mystery of what was going on, but it usually helped just to get away from things for five minutes and think. Surprisingly, though, this time it did nothing. When I walked back into the house and found Allie and Christian sitting in what looked like a living room, my problem had decreased by exactly nothing. I still had no idea why I was even here and how I could sanely explain what I had seen. The best I could come up with was that this was some prank TV show with really advanced visual effects. That didn't convince me entirely.

"So." I said to announce my presence. Allie looked up at me with those mismatched eyes. I didn't really know what to say next; it was kind of an unusual situation, I didn't have any previous experience in the realm of vampires to base this off. I frowned.

"You still don't believe us?" Christian asked as if he already knew the answer.

"No idea. Sorry." I slumped into one of the fancy armchairs. Novelists, eh? Money coming out of their ears. "I think I should probably call my flatmate. She might have noticed I'm not there by now. And while I doubt she's shitting in her panties from worry, courtesy does-"

"Oh my Goodness! Such vulgar language!"

I literally fell out of my chair.

It wasn't the sudden appearance of another person that had taken me so completely off guard – it was more the way they had appeared. It isn't everyday you see a translucent figure of an old woman glide naturally through a seemingly solid wall and then proceed to hover several inches off of the ground in the middle of a equally solid-looking coffee table. I sat gaping like a goldfish.

"Kali, this is Esme." Allie said as if this was a common occurrence. "As you can see, she's a ghost."

Ghost?

* * *

"I must say, it looks like you're taking this a lot better than I expected." Nell took the glass of water from Allie and started gulping down the liquid immediately. I took a sip of the freshly brewed coffee then placed the mug back on the kitchen table. "I mean, yesterday I thought it would take a lot to convince you of anything supernatural."

I thought back to the events of the past thirty-four hours. If that didn't count as a lot, then I don't know what did.

"Well, during my time here I've managed to come to three possible conclusions on the matter." I started in my most logical voice. "First, I could be dreaming, in which case I can't possibly be hurt and therefore I might as well go along with anything you guys throw at me."

"You're not dreaming." Adrian spoke up.

"Second," I continued ignoring him, "I could be going insane, in which case it's far too late to do anything pro-active about it and I might as well enjoy the ride on the gaga-train."

"You're not insane." Adrian again interjected. Christian tried to stifle a snort of disbelief. I carried on regardless.

"Third, this could all be real and I really am up shit creek with a bunch of vampires and demons and ghosts and weird witches, in which case I need to go along with it otherwise some badass demon will come and grab me and take me away to hell-"

"_Dark Ones""Summoner""Charmer""Abaddon"_

"-Looking at those options, I don't think I really have a choice but to buckle up and put my common sense to one side."

"Makes sense." Nell said.

"Always do."

"So what now?" she asked looking at the two men.

"Now," Christian answered, "we wait for the others before trying to decipher what it is that this demon lord wants with Kalila."

"You don't have any funky powers do you?" Allie directed at me, an expectant look on her face. I shook my head.

"Not to my knowledge. No spells, no weather control, no inexplicable knowledge of future events, nothing. I'm just plain ol' Kali, I'm afraid."

Allie frowned. "Which demon lord is it?"

This conversation was by far the most bizarre so far, especially the casual tones the others were using.

"Paymon." Adrian said. "Which is bad."

"Oh goody." I muttered and slammed my head on the table. In the past hour Christian and Allie had taken it upon themselves to tell me all about the ever-so-impressive world of magical powers and mystical beings. I guessed that they had missed lots out, including the bad-ness of Paymon, but at least now I knew there were ghosts and poltergeists and summoners and charmers and vampires and Egyptian moon dancers and demons and demon lords and demon dukes and demon earls and demon kings and demon princes and demon CEOs and demon secretaries and demon monkeys and demon dragonflies and demon llamas.

Well, maybe not that far, but there was a considerable amount of demon talk going on. My head was starting to hurt from the demonic nature of the morning.

Actually it was. A real splitting migraine was starting to form in my skull, and I was feeling rather sick. Every couple of minutes the room would sway violently. After all, I hadn't had any sleep so I put my sudden illness down to the tiredness. Either that or I had chosen a really inconvenient time to get sick.

"Kali!"

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up. Everyone was staring at me. Was I supposed to be saying something?

"Oh yeah, I totally agree."

Allie gazed at me with a concerned expression. "I was asking if you were ok."

"Just tired." I muttered, scratching my head. "I'll get some more coffee. Caffeine will help." The chair scraped against the stone floor as I stood, adding a new dimension to my headache.

"There's some still in the pot. But maybe you should get some sleep, instead."

I made my way sloppily over to the coffee pot on the side, trying not to let my dizziness show. "No, I'll be fine, I'm sure it's just-"

The doorbell rang several frantic times. Christian nodded to Allie, stood and then walked towards the door. My vision slowed down as he reached for the handle. I had just caught sight of a slither of morning sunlight gleaming through the open crack when the world around me did one last turbulent spin and I fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

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	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six  
**

I felt my eyelids flutter groggily open and was met by the sight of the two most startling eyes I had ever seen. Not only were they a pure light forest green, the likes of which I didn't even know could be a natural eye colour, but there was something else about them. Something empty.

"She's awake."

I vaguely recognised the voice but couldn't bring myself to look away from those eyes and check who it was. The abyss that swirled within those orbs was dark and lonely. Something incomprehensible pulled at my insides, making me want to fill the void. To help whoever it was that was in so much pain. And something hit me about this person. The sudden inexplicable realisation shocked and appalled me to my core.

They had no soul.

"It looks like she's going to be sick."

I felt my head being yanked to the side, my vision finally leaving the soulless eyes, and caught a glance of the red bucket before promptly vomiting. The fact that this stranger had no soul shouldn't have terrified me so much, I hadn't believed in souls at all since I was thirteen, but having the sheer horror of it shoved at me was ghastly. It wasn't even the mere absence; it was more that I could feel the emptiness behind it as easily as I could feel my own emotions. It was like a tornado had come and smacked me in the face.

I lifted my head out of the bucket and rolled back to my previous position, my eyes now firmly shut.

"Gah…"

"I think she's trying to say something."

"…Wahand?" was all that I could force out of my now dry mouth.

"Wahand?" My memory of where I was shifted back home and I placed the voices. Nell continued sounding concerned, "What does Wahand mean? Did she hit her head when she fell?"

"No, she didn't even touch the floor, you saw that." Allie replied.

My head hurt, no matter whether it touched the floor or not.

"Yeah, but… Wahand?"

"Kalila." Oh, great. Christian was here, calling me by my full name again, even though I've corrected him at least three times on the matter. What was up with that man? "Can you open your eyes?"

Of course I could open my eyes, dumbass. I just didn't want to. What if I fell into that soulless void again? What if Green Eyes was still there staring at me?

"Kalila."

"What?" I said as loud and angrily as I could, which turned out to be a hoarse whisper, but I think I still got the anger across. I hoped so anyway.

"Open your eyes."

And I obliged. Five faces gawked down at me, four of which I recognised and one that was new. But it wasn't those five that caught my interest. It was the sixth person, staring intently into the distance and not meeting my gaze. I instantly knew he was Green Eyes. I thought I would have known he was Green Eyes even if he was in a room full of a hundred strangers, and that thought scared me.

"Oh yay, she's alive!" the first stranger said. I still didn't move my stare from Green Eyes. His head was angled away from me, giving me a nice view of the underside of his chin and the rough stubble that was growing there. I liked stubble. It always looked good on a man.

"Of course she is, she wouldn't die just from-" Allie stopped midsentence. "Never mind."

"I'll get some water." Nell offered, "Adrian, you clear out the bucket."

"What?" There was a pause before he finally sighed and stood.

I lifted my head, trying to get a better look at Green Eyes and Stubble, but the sudden feeling of nausea had me stopping. I shifted instead, but the close proximity made it impossible to see anything apart from the stubbly jaw. The movement made me realise that I lying rather awkwardly on something that definitely was not the floor. I shifted again, trying to work out what it was. It was hard and lumpy, but also kind of comfy for some reason. I wiggled my bum to feel it out.

Green Eyes and Stubble's head snapped down and his eyes pierced mine.

"Don't."

The single word spoken in the deep European accent sent new waves of shivers up my spine. There was just the right amount of coarseness in that voice, enough to do things to my insides that should not have been happening. I stared at the man, moving my gaze from one feature to the next. The light green eyes were still there, but the intensity of the emptiness was gone. I could make out the sharp angles of his nose, the flawless layer of his pale skin, with only a few lines around the eyes and mouth, and the manly square of his jaw. The softness of those full lips was almost too tempting to bear. I needed to move away and get a better look at the effect as a whole. I was sure it would be startling.

His eyes narrowed.

I marvelled at those grey eyebrows, then realised that it wasn't just the eyebrows. Every strand of hair on his head was a different shade of grey, falling in loose waves around his face to his jaw line. He didn't look that old, forty tops, but the hair colour was that of a much older man. I found myself wanting to reach out and stroke it.

The man twitched backwards suddenly, even though I hadn't moved at all.

"How tall are you?" I found myself asking out of the blue. The man raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe she did hit her head." Allie said.

I continued to give the man a questioning look until he answered in that amazing voice of his. "Six foot six."

I almost died right there. Six foot six meant I could wear my highest heels and still only be the same height as him. There was a serious lack of guys tall enough to manage that. The only way this man could possibly be even more perfect is if he had a great body with a spattering of chest hair. Then I seriously would die.

Perfect Man flinched and gave me an extremely odd look.

Oh, and a tattoo. He should have a tattoo. Nothing too gaudy but a nice little one. Something manly. Not a unicorn like that one guy I dated. That was weird.

Perfect Man blinked.

And a muscular back. I like backs. They move nicely. Especially when naked.

Perfect Man's eyebrows rose even higher.

And a big-

"Drink your water." He ordered loudly while grabbing the glass from Nell and shoving it to my lips. I sputtered in surprise for a second before he pulled it back and instead placed it gently by my mouth. I reach up and took a sip. The cool liquid refreshed my throat and unfogged part of my brain. I sat up slightly and felt a hand on my back helping me upright. I saw then what it was I had been lying on. Perfect Man's lap. Perfect Man's perfect lap. No wonder he had been so close.

"Can you get up?" Allie asked, then turned to the others. "Do you think she should be walking?"

"I'm fine. Just fainted, that's all. No need to fuss." I stumbled slightly as I tried to stand. Perfect Man stood with remarkable grace and lifted me to my feet.

"This complicates things." Christian said darkly. I swayed dangerously and Perfect Man put his hands on my shoulders to support me.

"Uh, how?" I asked while leaning slightly closer to Perfect Man. "I mean, it was probably just exhaustion and lack of food. How would me fainting affect things?"

I was not pleased at the meaningful looks everyone was giving each other. And why weren't they answering me? First Stranger coughed. The man was short, with light blonde hair. He was kind of feminine looking, but still attractive.

"Who are you, by the way?"

"Hmm?" the man turned to me and smiled. "Oh, sorry, we're friends of Christian – Dark Ones. My name's Niko. Niko Immonen. That's Finnish by the way. Not Norwegian. Not that you would think it was. But just in case. You don't know how many people can't tell the difference. Even Finns find it difficult sometimes and you'd think we'd be experts. So, you're Kalila? Nice name. Arabic, yes? Where are you from? Somewhere Slavic, I expect. Or maybe Turkey? Or did your parents just think it was pretty? Your surname sounds Slavic, though."

There was a lot of information there. Far too much for my muddled brain to answer immediately.

"Um…" I worked through the questions in my mind, "Yeah, Arabic. And yeah, Slavic – Bosnia." Was that it? Hang on. "Oh, and call me Kali."

"Oh goody, I like Bosnians!" he exclaimed happily. I'm sure if I was in my normal state of mind I would have fallen in love with Niko and his hyperactivity, but right now all he succeeded in doing was annoying me. What I really wanted was answers. And a chair. Chairs are good.

Perfect Man immediately led me over to the table and plopped me down on the nearest chair.

"Ok," I remarked, eyeing Perfect Man up, "that's just freaky."

_You have no idea._

"Oh, I think after the last couple of days I do."

_What?_

"I said- Wait. Are you a ventriloquist?"

_Shit._

"Huh?" I turned slowly to the others. They didn't seem surprised by the conversation. I just didn't get it. Perfect Man was making no sense. Maybe he was Perfect Crazy Man? Perfect Crazy Man who could talk without moving his lips at all? "What's going on?"

"I think we'll let Dmitri explain." Christian said. He took Allie's hand and pulled her towards the door. Adrian and Niko followed behind. Adrian paused and turned to Nell. She looked disgruntled and after a minute huffed and stomped after her husband out of the room.

I turned back to Perfect Crazy Man.

He sighed and sat on the chair next to me. "My name's Dmitri. And I'm not crazy."

"I never said you were." I was getting really uncomfortable now. This was going beyond coincidence. Dmitri's lips turned upwards on one side in a smile that made my stomach wobble.

"True."

"Who _are_ you?" It came out as a whisper, not the accusation I had hoped.

"Just who Niko said. A friend of Christian."

"Vampire?"

His eyes narrowed. "Dark One."

Same diff.

_No it isn't._

"There! You just did it again!" I shouted and pointed. "You can talk without moving your lips!"

"No, I can't."

"But-" My face went blank as I realised something. "You were replying to something I didn't say out loud."

Dmitri sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. His lovely nose, I might add. I hadn't been disappointed by the full view of the man. Everything pieced together perfectly. Even those eyes didn't seem out of place. Those eyes which, in this light, definitely looked a few shades darker than before. He must have had a strange heritage to get those looks. I idly wondered where he was from.

_Russia. And my heritage is no stranger than yours._

"Stop doing that!"

"What?"

"That vampire mind-reading thingy!"

"Dark One."

"_Vampire_!"

"_Dark One_!"

"Well, stop it whatever you are!" I yelled. Dmitri slumped back in his chair and tilted his head to the ceiling. The sight of that stubbly throat again had my mind reeling.

"I'm not doing it." He finally said. His Adam's apple bobbed as he spoke. I wanted to nibble it. "Stop thinking things like that!"

"Stop listening!"

"I'm not, you're thought-shouting!"

"And you're thought-listening!"

"Well I don't want to!"

"Then don't, vampire!"

"Dark One!"

"_Vampire!_"

"_Dark One!"_

"God!" I screamed in frustration and slammed my hands down on the table. "Can you please just tell me what's going on?"

I got the definite impression that Dmitri wasn trying to avoid looking at me.

_It wasn't meant to be someone like you._

What's that supposed to mean?

I didn't get a reply.

_---_

_Review?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Dmitri got to his feet and started pacing up and down the length of the room. I used the edge of the table to push myself up and carefully approached him. I stopped in his path, forcing him to pause and look at me.

"Dmitri." I said in my sternest voice. "What is going on?"

He peered at me, inspecting my face. Finally our gazes met and his stare settled. I wondered at how his eyes were now a deep green, not the light shade I had first seen. That empty void was back. I fought down the urge to kiss him and make it all better, even though I had no idea how it would help.

"Please." I whispered, not able to look away. The compulsion I was feeling to get closer to him was something I had never felt with another guy before, not even the really hot ones. It was just so overpoweringly strong. I bit my lip, trying to concentrate on what was important and not my sudden desires. I reached out, hoping that a gentle touch on the arm would get him talking.

I realised my mistake far too late.

The invisible strings pulling at my insides gave an uncontrollable yank as soon as our flesh connected. Before I even had time to say 'random kiss-fest', our lips were locked together, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist. I tangled my fingers in his hair and pushed myself against him. Dmitri's tongue had somehow managed to find its way into my mouth and I sucked on it greedily. The fire inside me flared and I knew he was feeling the same. No, I didn't just _know_. I could _feel_ it. Erotic images that I was positive weren't mine flashed through my head as I felt my legs strike the edge of the table behind me. I sat on its edge and pulled him closer.

_Chjort._

Yeah.

_Ja shozh__**u**__ po teb__**e**__ s um__**a**__._

While my Russian wasn't brilliant I could understand some of the words in that statement. The feeling of having his voice saying such things in my head while his hands were exploring my back sent my body into overdrive. I moaned loudly into his mouth.

_Beloved._

I froze.

Dmitri pulled away and raised an eyebrow at my sudden tenseness. I slowly unwrapped myself from his embrace.

"What did you say?"

All expression on Dmitri's face disappeared.

"You heard that?"

"Uh, yeah!" I pushed him away and stood, my arms crossed in front of me. "And excuse me, but I'm no one's _beloved_. Especially not some creepy vampire dude I met not quarter of an hour ago."

"Dark One."

"_Vampire."_

Dmitri rubbed his forehead as he perched on the table just as I had been doing, looking incredibly stressed. "Dark Ones don't have a soul."

I ignored the part of my brain still stuck in the past telling me there was no such things as souls. I had seen proof of them. I had felt it. "Yep, worked that one out. Although it is odd I could tell with you and not the other guys."

"Christian and Adrian have their souls."

"But you just said-"

"I know. Just listen for a minute, will you?" he pleaded tetchily. I huffed and pulled a chair away from the table to what I thought was a reasonably safe distance away before sitting down and crossing my arms and legs. I looked at him with my best 'I'm listening, now talk' face. "In order for a Dark One to redeem his soul he must join with his Beloved. After that the soul appears and everyone's happy."

"Beloved?" I asked austerely.

"The one woman born to the world with the power to save a Dark One. Most Dark Ones never find theirs since there's only one and once she dies, that's it. But once they join a Beloved loses her mortality and is able to live alongside her Dark One for millennia, in fact, they cannot be apart. It's supposed to be romantic or something."

"Sounds like a bitch to me."

"Quite."

"So, let me get this straight," I uncrossed my legs then crossed them the other way, leaning forward in what I hoped was a serious way, "you think that I'm one of these Beloved thingamabobs?"

Dmitri stared at me and my stomach flipped. "Yes."

"Yours?"

"Yes."

"So the mind-connection thing, that's-"

"Yes."

"And the sudden uncontrollable urges to do oh so naughty things with-"

"Yes."

I leant back and looked to the ceiling. "Aww, crap."

So according to this man I was the one true saviour of his soul and we were meant to fall in love and spend the rest of eternity together. Now, to me that sounded not only completely farfetched, but also a little presumptuous. I was only twenty-seven. No way was I old enough to be tied down for all of immortality. For Christ's sake, I didn't even like eating at the same restaurant more than once every month – how was I meant to keep to the same guy for however long forever is?

"Believe me; I'm just as happy as you about this."

"Don't you want a soul?" I grumbled.

"Yes, but…" he trailed off. I snapped my head to face him and glared.

"But what? I'm not good enough for you? That's what you meant, isn't it? When you said it wasn't meant to be someone like me?"

"No, it's just…" It looked like he was putting a lot of thought into what to say next. "I always imagined my Beloved as someone with less…"

I raised an eyebrow.

"…hair dye."

"And I always imagined the guy I'd spend my life with having less jackass tendencies."

Dmitri glowered at me. "Then we are both in the same boat."

We frowned at each other for a few seconds. For someone so good-looking he really had a giant stick up his backside. And what was wrong with my hair colour? I liked it. It was better than looking like an old man anyway. Stupid grey hair. If it wasn't so pretty I'd shave it off while he slept. If vampires slept, that is.

_We do. And you would not be even able to enter the room with a razor, no matter how deeply I was sleeping._

Stop listening to my thoughts!

_Then stop thinking. I imagine it wouldn't take much._

I gritted my teeth together. "What was this joining thing you mentioned?"

And for your information I think plenty. For example, I'm thinking right now about shoving a fire poker into your gonads.

"There are seven steps to joining. After they are completed the Dark One regains his soul."

_And not so long ago you were thinking about doing something rather different to my gonads._

"What are these steps?"

That was the weird Beloved mumbo-jumbo, vamp boy. If I was thinking properly I would only ever go near your gonads with some form of sharp implement.

"Why do you want to know the steps?"

_Do not call me vamp boy, hair girl. _

"Because then I'll know what not to do and we can go our separate ways, never having to join."

Vamp boy! Vamp boy! Vamp boy!

Dmitri leaned forward and looked at me intensely. I could see he was pissed off. "First the Dark One marks his Beloved as his own."

"Ok, that we don't have to worry about, no way am I letting you pee on me like a dog."

"Not that kind of marking." I could hear the silent 'idiot' at the end of that sentence. "It is what we call the establishment of a mental connection."

"The mind talking?" _Yes. _"Oh, well that's only one out of seven and I don't see a way out of it, unfortunately. Continue."

"Secondly," Dmitri said as he turned a chair around and sat on it instead of the table, making our eye lines level, "he must protect her from afar."

"Nope, not done. Next." I announced checking them off on my fingers.

"The third step is the first exchange."

I stared at him blankly but he didn't continue.

"Of what?" I asked feeling a little annoyed, "Gonna need some more info. What do they exchange? Phone numbers? Christmas presents? Lamb casserole recipes?"

He looked unimpressed. "Bodily fluids."

"Eww! Oh, wait, saliva's a bodily fluid isn't it? Damn." I sighed. "Well, that's still only two steps, I guess. Carry on."

"Next the Dark One gives his Beloved the means to destroy him."

"Like he hands her a stake or something?"

Dmitri narrowed his eyes even further. "Stakes have no more effect than ordinary weapons, and no, it can be metaphorical destruction as well as physical."

"Oh," I thought that through, "but then surely simply telling me you're a vampire is completing the fourth step?"

"No, because I'm not a vampire!"

I pretended to look him up and down then come to the conclusion, "I think you are."

"The fifth step," he said rather louder than was normal, "is the second exchange."

I thought for a second then got what he meant. My eyes widened. "Well that we definitely haven't done."

_And we definitely won't._

"Then the Dark One must ask for his Beloved's assistance." Again unlikely, seeing as this vampire was a prideful git. "Lastly is the final exchange."

"Of?"

"Blood."

"I think I can safely promise not to bleed you." I reassured him. "So no snacking on my neck, right?"

"I shall try to resist." He said coldly.

"So that's only three out of seven. As long as we can keep adult control over our mojo and don't accidentally trip and bite each other's lips until they bleed I think we'll be safe with that."

"Yes. I have survived until now without a soul and do not need one in the future."

"Good."

"Good."

Bastard.

_Bitch.

* * *

_

"So you're not going to join?"

"Nope." I answered licking the remainders of yoghurt off of my spoon. Nell and Allie both exchanged a glance which I didn't fail missing. They looked as if they were about to burst out laughing. I didn't get why my misery was so entertaining to them. "What?"

"Oh, nothing." Nell said casually.

"No, seriously, what?"

"Kali," Allie started while smiling broadly, "I can guarantee to you that no Dark One and Beloved immediately fall in love and join upon meeting. Most loathe the idea. Just like you."

"When I met Adrian I thought he was an evil kidnapper."

"I thought Christian was an overbearing controlling jerk."

"Yeah, but that's different."

"How?" they both asked at the same time. I opened my mouth to reply. Then closed it again. Truth be told, I had no idea how to answer that. There was no logical response that wouldn't end with 'so I guess it isn't really'.

"Your mean." I mumbled into my yoghurt. Both of the women laughed.

"Trust me," Allie patted my hand, "by the end of this you two will be inseparable."

"Literally."

* * *

_Review?_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"What do you mean _no_?"

"I mean no."

"So you expect me just to stay in these clothes for however long it takes to work this out then?" I put my hands on my hips and gave Christian my best teacher look. He didn't react.

"I am sure Allegra would not mind you borrowing some clothes from her wardrobe."

I pouted. "Look, not even starting on the size issue there, but, and I really hope you're not offended by this Allie, but your clothes are somewhat… not my style."

"You mean they're shapeless and ugly?" she asked while moving her knight forward and taking Nell's pawn. She shrugged. "I know, but it's what I feel comfy in."

"Exactly!" I cried. "And I feel comfy in _my_ clothes!"

"How are skin-tight jeans and five-inches heels comfy?" Adrian spoke up. I glared at him.

"They just are. And these heels are only four and a half inches high, for your information."

"Why doesn't someone just accompany her to her flat so she can pick a few things up?" Nell asked while taking Allie's knight with a bishop. I gave her a thankful glance. At least she understood my pain.

"She is not leaving this house."

"Why don't you just shut it, vamp boy?" I turned to the man lazing on the armchair in the corner. Dmitri narrowed his eyes.

"Dmitri is right. We cannot risk you stepping outside the boundary of the wards." Christian said.

"Danger!" Niko joked.

"Then why don't we go?" Allie asked. The men all rotated their heads to stare at her in disbelief. Nell looked like she agreed with the idea.

"We could."

"No." Adrian and Christian said at the same time. Christian continued. "There is sure to be someone watching Kalila's apartment. It would be too dangerous to venture there."

Which was all the more reason to send someone there. Hannah was still there. And since it was apparently 'too dangerous' to phone anyone outside, she still had no idea what was going on. If anything happened to her because of this stupid adventure of mine, then I'd blame myself for the rest of my life. She was my best friend. I needed her here with me.

"_You_ guys could go."

Everyone turned and peered at me as if I'd gone crazy.

"You could!" I tried to defend myself. "It's not as if one little demon could beat four big strong Dark Ones, is it? And I really need some other clothes. I'm starting to smell. And I bet you could be back within the hour. It wouldn't take much, would it?"

"You've been in those clothes less than a day." Dmitri pointed out. _And since when did you start calling us Dark Ones?_

Since I wanted something. Now butt out of my head, vampire!

There was silence for a few seconds and I noticed the changing expressions on Christian and Adrian's faces. Now I knew about the whole Beloved thing I was starting to recognise when mind-conversations were happening. Finally Christian sighed.

"Fine. Dmitri and I will go."

And I was sure they wouldn't be coming back on their own.

* * *

I could hear the front door slam open from where I was in the living room. I stood and prepared myself. Before I could even announce where we were a blonde flash had stopped in front of me.

"Kali, what the hell is going on?" Hannah said angrily. She started poking me in the chest. If I hadn't been so used to it by now I was sure it would have bruised. "First I find you gone when I come and check on you this morning, then I try to call you only to hear a 'what do you think you're doing' and a smash, then I call your work to see if they know anything, which they didn't, then some scary looking guys turn up at the flat spouting some nonsense about clothes, and then when I try to get information out of them one of them tried to pull some spy move on me and knock me out! I think you've got some 'splaining to do."

"Christian, you didn't!" Allie sounded shocked.

"No, that particular 'spy move' was Dmitri." Christian said calmly as he put the small travel bag down in the doorway. I peered at it. Was that all they had brought?

"No." Dmitri grumbled as he too showed up. I was pleased to see him dragging one of my giant suitcases behind him. "Just how many pairs of shoes do you own?"

I told you to stay out of my head!

"Han," I turned back to my friend. She was giving me definite evils. "Things are a bit complicated at the moment. I'll tell you about it in a sec, but first you have to tell me what that big bully over there did to you."

"He was trying that weird thing they do in the movies, you know, when they pinch someone's neck and they suddenly fall to the ground?" She acted out pinching a neck.

"Does that even work?" I asked Dmitri.

"It does if you can reach the neck without having a corkscrew stabbed into your hand."

"You didn't?" I smiled broadly at Hannah. She shrugged.

"I'm from the east end. We know how to defend ourselves."

My liking for Hannah at least tripled. Dmitri grumbled something under his breath and went and sat in the chair furthest away from me. Hannah gave me a knowing look.

"I also had to stop these idiots packing up all the wrong things." She shoved her thumb in their direction. "I knew you wouldn't be happy with just one pair of shoes."

"Why would she need more?" Dmitri yelled. "Why?"

"And they were trainers." Hannah added.

I gasped. "You mean to say…" I stuttered out, "…that out of my entire collection of three hundred and sixty seven pairs of pristine shoes he wanted to take the ratty old _trainers_."

"They're sensible!"

"They're hideous!"

"You're-"

"You have three hundred and sixty seven pairs of shoes?" Allie interrupted Dmitri, avoiding the imminent battle of words between us. I blinked and looked at her. Her eyebrows were both raised. I had no idea why she was so surprised. Women needed shoes. Lots of them. It was just natural.

"Yeah. Why? How many do you have?"

"Three."

I felt faint.

"How can you even afford that?" Nell asked me.

Hannah answered in a gloomy tone. "I buy groceries."

"You buy shoes instead of food?"

"Her bedroom floor's covered in them all neatly lined up."

"Yep and they're ordered by style, heel height and colour."

"Doesn't that count as obsession?"

"To her it doesn't. I've tried to tell her in the past but she won't listen."

"That's definitely an addiction."

"Her wardrobe was almost as bad."

"Wow."

I heard everything they were saying but it left my head as soon as it entered. Nothing was really registering anymore. The conversation was moving on without me.

"_You only have _three_ pairs of shoes?_"

Everyone stared at me. The clock on the mantelpiece ticked away.

"Uh, yeah." Allie finally answered. "And Christian bought me one of them saying I needed something other than sneakers."

Like a zombie I turned towards the door and started walking. "I need to lie down."

Christian stood. "I'll show you to a room."

I nodded blankly and followed him out of the room and towards the staircase. Somewhere behind me I heard Nell speak.

"I think you broke her."

* * *

I ran down the road, clutching the tiny hand tightly, almost dragging the boy behind me. There were many shouts behind us, egging us to go faster. I heard gunshots nearby.

Papa stopped and waited for Jumah and I to catch up. I almost collapsed from exhaustion when I reached him. My breathing was so heavy it almost drowned out the bangs and screams. Jumah fell to his knees when we stopped. His little legs weren't used to running so far. Papa leant down and picked him up.

"Lila, pohitati." He told me sternly before starting to run again. I could see Mama in the distance, struggling to keep my other brother on her back. I rushed after them, knowing that a bit of exhaustion was better than what was behind us.

"Papa, pricekati!" I shouted but more gunfire made it impossible to hear my voice. They disappeared around the corner just ahead. A sudden rock in the road caught my foot and I flew forward out of my control. I fell head first down the bank. Something struck my leg as I fell and I felt a symphony of pain blossom there. I rolled through the small undergrowth and finally stopped when I hit the base of a tree.

I didn't have time to collect my breath. I tried to stand. My leg screamed in protest and I crumpled to the ground again. A loud explosion came from around the corner. Shouting was getting nearer. As were the gunshots. My vision was starting to blur.

_Kali!_

The pain in my leg was beginning to subside as everything started to turn black around the edges.

"Kali!"

I opened my eyes.

Two light green ones stared back at me.

"Dmitri?" I croaked out in my sleepy state. He sighed and leant back. I sat up against the pillows on the soft bed. He was sitting on the edge next to me.

"You were dreaming."

"Oh."

I was silent for a while. "Did you see-"

"Yes." Dmitri said while looking down at the sheets. To say this was awkward would be an understatement. "I thought you were probably born here and only your parents were foreign. I didn't know that…"

"I know. It's not exactly the type of thing I like to advertise."

_Wars never are._

I reached over and picked up the glass of water on the bed-side cabinet. I could feel Dmitri watching me as I sipped at it.

"What happened to them?" he asked after a good minute of silence. I sighed.

"I don't know. I never found them."

I heard the unasked questions in my head but chose to ignore them. I didn't like talking about my experience of the Slavic war with anyone, and I didn't plan to start with Dmitri. He obviously felt my reluctance and tried to change the conversation.

"So, you choose to spend all your money on shoes and leave nothing for food? Seems like an interesting way to live."

_Or insane._

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from lack of imagination." I recited. Dmitri frowned.

"Oscar Wilde?"

"Yeah, why?" I narrowed my eyes. "You think just because I like clothes and dye my hair that I have no brains?"

Dmitri laughed. Actually laughed. It was such a sweet melody to my ears that I felt my heart literally skip a beat.

"I think I better go." He said lightly. "Otherwise you'll probably start yelling at me again."

"Yeah." I agreed, only half-heartedly. He got up and walked towards the door.

"Get some more sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

And with that he left.

* * *

_Review_?


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

I slumped down onto the kitchen table, the cold surface of the wood cooling my forehead. It must have been midmorning or somewhere nears enough. I marvelled at how long I had slept. It was certainly over twelve hours. After Dmitri had left last night I had tossed and turned for almost two hours, unable to settle my thoughts, but as soon as I had dropped off, nothing could have woken me.

I heard footsteps nearby.

"You want some breakfast?" Allie asked. I couldn't bring myself to lift my head and look at her.

"Argh."

"She'll have some ridiculously strong coffee." Hannah said as a scrape came from across the table and I knew she had sat down.

"Wadooder? Dondooherk?" I made out in my best morning voice. Something about waking up always short-circuited the nerves from my brain to my mouth.

Allie obviously didn't understand. "What?"

"Well, I couldn't just pop off to work after hearing about your demon issue, could I? I called in sick."

I mentally gasped, my mouth not following the command. Hannah pulling a sicky? Never! She was dedicated to that dull, mindless, tedious, brain-cell-killing, office job of hers. Even if it had destroyed her social and love life. She usually said something about getting ahead of the game and not winding up in a gutter. I usually blocked her out.

"Coeh." I muttered.

"Yes, your coffee's coming."

I heard a thud as something was put down on the table in front of me.

"You actually understand that?" I peered up from the wood grain and saw Allie standing next to me, right next to a nice large shiny mug.

"I've been living with her for five years. I kind of have to."

My hand snaked out towards the mug, edging closer all the time. Finally my fingers struck the hot ceramic and I fumbled for the handle. I tugged at it, sliding it closer at the same time as lifting my head a painstaking three inches off of the table. I placed my lips to the edge, taking in the delicious smell of caffeine, before taking a sip. I felt my mind refresh slightly almost as soon as the liquid had gone down my throat.

I sighed.

"Not a morning person I take it?" I heard from the doorway. I looked up and saw Dmitri leaning against the doorframe, something akin to a smirk on his face. I instantly wanted to say something to wipe it off. The smug git.

"Onik." I coughed and tried to sort out my eloquence issues. Dmitri's bloody smirk had only increased. I took a gulp of coffee and started again in a croaky voice. "'Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast.'"

"And only sloths and beasts can sleep fifteen hours and still be tired." He strutted into the room and sat at the end of the table. I glared at him. I don't know why he was so happy all of a sudden. Yesterday he was ready to kill me.

"Shut it." was my amazing retort. It was too early to be coming up with witty one-liners. And it hadn't been fifteen hours. But I wasn't about to tell him about my trouble sleeping. He'd probably just get an even bigger ego and no one wanted that. Especially me. I turned back to Allie instead. "What are we doing today?"

"Today," I twisted my head to find Christian entering the room. What was up with these people popping out of nowhere and answering questions that weren't directed at them? "We are going to figure out why Paymon is interested in you."

"Paymon being?" I asked. There had been a lot of names tossed around yesterday and I was struggling to keep up.

"The demon lord after you." Hannah answered. I blinked.

"How do you know that?"

She shrugged. "Niko told me. And unlike some people I listen when people are telling me something important."

I snarled at her before getting back to my coffee. "And how exactly are we going to work out why crazy demon lord dude wants me? You didn't have any luck yesterday."

Christian leant against the countertop. There was a definite gleam to his eyes which I did not like. "We believe you may have some form of power you are not aware of yet. We plan to find out what that power is. Then we can decide how best to act next."

"And how do you find out if I have any secret crazy powers?"

The gleam increased.

Uh-oh.

* * *

"Can't I have a break? Just a little one?" I whined. After three hours of this I was pretty tired. Mental activity was not my strong point.

_Really? I would never have guessed._

"Stop being an ass and get out of my head!"

"As you've been told, countless times, I need to check you're concentrating." Dmitri said. I was pretty sure he was just using this as an excuse to root around inside my mind. I was not happy about it. No one got in there except for me. And even I struggled at that sometimes. "Which you have not been doing most of the time."

"Well, maybe if I was actually doing something proactive and not just sitting around then I would!" I yelled. Dmitri narrowed his eyes. _I can't believe you're meant to be my Beloved._ "I heard that, vamp boy!"

"Dark One!"

"Vamp boy!"

"Dark O-"

"Will you two stop arguing for ten seconds?" Allie snapped. I huffed and crossed my arms tightly in front of my new pout. Christian was rubbing his forehead in exasperation. Hannah looked like she was trying not to laugh. Niko had fallen asleep in his armchair, despite the constant screaming. "Look, I know this is a tough time for both of you," I could sense the slight hint of sarcasm in her voice and it did not help with my mood, "but can we _please_ just get on with this without the name-calling? It's difficult enough as it is."

"I'll behave if _he_ does." I mumbled.

_God, you're such a child._

"Well, at least I'm not a vampire!"

"I'm not a-"

"Ok, fine, have a break!" Christian shouted before stomping his way out of the room. I practically ran to the door, not wanting to spend any more time yelling at an idiot of a man. My throat was starting to get sore. I brought the cigarette to my lips when the door opened and shut behind me.

"Hey." Hannah greeted.

"Wattup."

"So," she said far too casually. I knew she wanted to say something. And Hannah was never good at controlling what she wanted to say. "You and Dmitri, eh?"

"Don't talk to me about that jerkoff." I grumbled.

"Oh, really?" There was something unsettling about that smile on her face.

"Oh really what?" I asked darkly. She better not be thinking what I thought she was thinking. Otherwise there'd be trouble.

"Nothing." She said with that knowing smile. I continued to scrutinise her face. She finally gave up. "It's just that, you know, you seem to get awfully wound up by him, and you're usually really calm, it's just not like you, kind of like, well, you like him."

I glowered at her.

"What?" she asked innocently as if she hadn't just committed such a heinous crime.

"Go to hell."

"I thought that was where you were meant to be heading – or Abaddon to be more correct?" I whacked her on the arm for making such a bad joke. "What? I was just commenting on what I saw! And I definitely saw a spark between you two."

"Yeah, a spark of rage."

"It's a fine line between love and hate, doll."

"And you're about to cross it." That annoying 'I know something you don't know' look was still on her face. I needed to find something to get rid of it quickly before she started spouting more nonsense about love and crap. "How's your love life going, by the way?"

I was positive that would shut her up.

"Oh, you know…" she answered in a dreamy voice. My ears pricked up.

"What? Han, are you saying there's actually some movement in that department? 'Cause that is so unexpected I could faint." It was her turn to hit me on the arm.

"It's nothing. It's just a crush." I grabbed her with my free hand by the jaw and made her look me in the eyes. Hannah didn't get crushes. She was far too sensible. Occasionally she'd go out with a guy, but nothing ever really came of it. She was just too work-focused to make anything last. And she certainly didn't have room in her head for _crushes_. I used my almighty stare to get her talking. "Nothing can happen, though, so it's pointless."

"Who?"

She sucked on her bottom lip and averted her gaze.

"Hannah."

"Niko." She finally whispered. I let her go. Well, that was alright then. Niko seemed like a nice guy. At least it wasn't some axe murderer or sadistic psychopath.

"Why don't you go for it, then?"

"Uh, hello! He's a Dark One!" she explained as if it was obvious. I raised an eyebrow. She sighed. "Well, I'm not his Beloved, am I? And so what if we start dating, what if it gets serious, what if I fall in love with him, and then he goes and finds her? What do you think will happen to me? Nope, sorry, but nothing's going to happen that persuades me to get into something like that."

That was so Hannah – thinking so far into the future that she started to scare herself. I swear if she didn't have a plan for something she'd completely spaz out.

"You think too much."

"You think too little."

I couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

I walked back into the living room determined to get on with finding out what mystical voodoo powers I had. No more time would be wasted with pointless fights between me and Dmitri.

"You shouldn't smoke."

"And you shouldn't exist!"

Damn it.

"Can we just get on with this?" Christian asked. I plopped myself down on the couch across from him and Allie. Hannah chose an armchair which I noticed just happened to be the nearest one to a softly snoring Niko. Christian leaned forwards and picked up the piece of paper on the coffee table. "Next is chiromancy."

I sighed. "Which is?"

"Palm-reading."

"Fine." I held out my hand expectantly. "Palm me up, Scotty."

"Which one of us is Scotty?" Hannah asked. I shrugged. I didn't really care whose palm I got to stare at blankly. It wasn't like it made any difference. "Well, not me, my head still hurts from your phrenology experiment."

"It isn't my fault that lamp knocked over!"

"You were holding it over my head and dropped it!"

I resisted coming up with a clever come-back and instead peered at Allie. She shook her head vehemently. "Oh no, my hand's still aching from all that handwriting I had provide you with earlier. I can barely stretch it out."

I turned to Christian.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because your simple attempt at onychomancy meant I nearly lost a finger. You are not going near my hands again."

"The scissors slipped! And you didn't nearly lose a finger. Don't overreact." Christian growled in response. I was forced to turn to the last conscious person in the room. Dmitri was glaring at me already. And I hadn't even touched him yet. "Hand. Now."

_No. _Yes. _No. _Yes. _No no no. _Yes yes yes. _No no no no no. _I thought you were meant to be helping me not speaking like a one year old?

Dmitri grumbled something in Russian under his breath that I wouldn't care to repeat, but grudgingly made his way over to my couch and sat next to me. I held out my hand. He sat and glared. I coughed and smiled. He dropped his hand face up on top of mine. The connection was there like before – an uncontrollable desire to touch him – but this time it was less forceful, less demanding. I could manage to stop myself throwing at him at least. I realised that Dmitri was working to shut his mind out of mine, to weaken the connection between us. I also realised that something in me was giving a tiny squeal of protest. I pushed that down. This Beloved thing was a pain.

I turned my attention to his palm and tried to do much the same as I had been doing all day. I emptied my head and focused on the lines, watching them for signs I would understand. Or rather, that was what I was meant to be doing. I got distracted by the rough surfaces of Dmitri's fingers and idly wondered what they'd feel like against my skin.

_Concentrate!_

You concentrate!

"What do you see?" Allie whispered. It must have looked like I was getting some weird psychic glimpse into the future or something and not having a mental battle with Dmitri.

"I see…" I settled back and tried to focus my mind on the lines. "I see… a hummingbird."

"What? You see something?" Christian said anxiously.

"Yeah, well, if you look at these lines here they kind of make a wing and this here could be the beak, and this splat bit a flower." Everyone sighed at me annoyed. I looked up. "I'm no palmist."

Dmitri pulled his hand away. I internally squirmed. "Well, you weren't trying very hard, were you?"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"I'm not the one being hunted by demons!"

"And I'm not the one being an obnoxious ass!"

"How abou-"

"My God, you two! Someone trying to sleep here!" Niko shouted over both of our voices. I huffed and stormed my way towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Christian called after me.

"To get some rest before work!"

"What?" Dmitri was in front of me before I had time to blink. "What do you mean work?"

"As in, what I do to make money. You know, a profession." I answered, trying to side-step the man. He just moved and blocked my new path.

"You are not leaving this house."

"And how am I meant to earn money?" I put my hands on my hips.

"I don't care, but you will not leave this house!"

"Don't you tell me what to do, you assmonkey! I've just about had it up to here with you and your bloody stubborn face! Unlike some people, if I miss work, I get fired, and if I get fired, then I don't get money, and if I don't get money, I can't afford living expenses, and if I can't afford living expenses, then I die! This is the one job in my entire life that I've managed to keep over a year and you will not ruin it for me!" I stopped and took a deep breath. That was a rant Hannah would have been proud of.

Dmitri looked flummoxed.

"Now are you going to get out of my way or not?"

I sent him as many nasty thoughts as I could to make sure he got the message of what I'd do to him if he tried to stop me.

"It's too dangerous." He finally said in a much calmer voice.

"But they know you've talked to me, right?" My brain was ticking away, trying to formulate a reasonable argument that would get me out of here. "Therefore, they think I'll be too scared to leave my hiding place, let alone venture to somewhere so painstakingly obvious as my workplace. So really, there's no more danger going to work than there is in staying here. It's the last thing they'll expect."

Silence ensued.

"That actually makes sense." Niko finally spoke up.

I gave Dmitri a pleading look. He didn't look convinced.

I just… I need to get out of this house.

After a good minute of staring into my eyes, and what I suspected was my surface thoughts, Dmitri looked away and sighed.

"Fine." He groaned. Then quickly added. "But I'm coming with you!"

"Ok then."

"Ok."

"Good."

"Good."

There was an awkward silence before Dmitri decided to speak again.

"What do you do for a living, by the way?"

* * *

_Review?_


	10. Chapter 10

_Sorry for the wait. I went back to uni this week and have been pretty busy._

**Chapter Ten**

As soon as I had stepped inside _Poppy's_ dark and brooding atmosphere I immediately felt my spirit lifting. The heavy base, the friendly faces of the other girls, the loud chatter – everything just seemed right. It was just so normal. I relished in the familiarity. After two days of complete chaos my brain finally knew what was what and who was who. I felt at home.

There was however, one thing dampening my mood.

"And then the sea horse said to the mussel-"

"Piss off."

My head snapped round to the tall foreboding figure standing over my shoulder. He was glowering intently at the skinny nerd who had been telling the joke. The nerd started stammering.

"Dmitri!" I chastised. "Don't worry Luke, he's harmless, just a big bully."

Dmitri slumped down in the chair in between me and Luke and crossed his arms on the table, in a way that purposely emphasized his muscles. He glared at Luke. Luke promptly scarpered.

"Dmitri, stop doing that! I earn most of my money from tips and so far you've scared off all my customers! Do you want me to become destitute?"

_If it knocked some sense into your head._

"Do you think these things on purpose or are you just insane?" I tried to keep my voice down so not to attract too much attention. It didn't work very well. The man at the next table gave me an odd look before turning back to the dancer on the stage.

"I am trying to protect you!" Dmitri hissed back at me.

"By getting me fired?"

"Xander could be in disguise. He could be any of these customers and you would just be chatting away and flirting with him!"

"You know, it kind of sounds like you're jealous." I coaxed him, positive that would flip him out. To my surprise he didn't react, but just kept his eyes narrowed in the same accusing way. I raised my eyebrows. Are you?

_Of course not. As much as it may surprise you, you are not the centre of the universe._

He sighed and leant back in his chair. Then why are you so angry at me? I can tell, you know, your eyes are lighter than normal. That's one of those freaky vampire things.

"Dark One."

_And I'm angry because you seem to have no real grip on reality._

I chuckled, "With what's going on right now, I have no idea what reality is anymore."

_That does not give you the excuse to go around flaunting your body to random strangers!_

I stood. "I knew you'd react like this. You're just one of those stuck-up jerks who judge people without really knowing them." I started walking away. I'd had enough of people looking at me and thinking that I must be some horny slut that got a kick out of people ogling them in my life. I didn't need Dmitri to start doing the same. I forced a smile on my face and starting towards the bar where I spotted a guy looking at me hopefully. I looked down at the hand that had clasped my wrist.

_I'll give you fifty pounds to stay and talk to me instead of one of these perverts._

I blinked and slowly rotated to face Dmitri. "What?"

"Fifty."

I yanked my arm out of his grip. I cannot be bought!

"Then why do you work here?" he whispered angrily at me. "If you just wanted the money you'd stay with me, so you must secretly love the attention."

"I cannot believe that-"

"A new pair of shoes."

Huh?

Dmitri sighed. "I will buy you a pair of shoes of your choice if you agree not to leave my side tonight."

"I-" Ok, this was so not fair. A battle raged inside me and I saw that Dmitri knew he had me pegged. Half of me hated the idea that he had the nerve to try to buy my company when we both knew how much we despised each other. The other half just liked shoes. Morality versus tinsel. The battle of the great. I narrowed my eyes. "_Any_ pair of shoes?"

"As long as it is not too expensive."

"How much is too expensive?" Dmitri looked at me as if considering what the lowest he could offer without me walking away would be.

"A hundred."

I let out a short shallow laugh and started towards the bar again. I could make more than that from tips in a night if he would just leave me alone.

_Two._

You suck at bargaining.

There was a growl in my head before a defeated voice spoke again. _Three. _

I paused. There was that amazing pair of leopard print Cesare Paciotti heels I so desperately wanted and had never been able to quite save up for. How much were they retailing at again? No, Kali, think of your morals! But they were so pretty.

Make it three-fifty.

_Fine._

I trotted over to a near table and sat down, a big smile on my face. Dmitri slumped down darkly beside me.

_I can't believe you would spend three hundred and fifty pounds on a single pair of shoes._

"But they're pretty!" I whined. And butt out of my head.

"To quote your favourite playwright, 'Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.'" _And you butt out of mine._

"'I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.'" I recited back. He frowned.

"I doubt a pair of three hundred and fifty pound shoes would qualify as a _simple pleasure_."

"They're pretty!"

"So you said."

I sat and pouted. Would anyone ever understand my point of view? Women just had to have shoes. Anyone who said otherwise was a traitor to womankind. I tapped my finger on the table, both in annoyance and boredom. Dmitri wasn't the epitome of what I considered good conversation. If you wanted a good argument, then yes, he was your man. But conversation? No. I think not. I suppose that dark, brooding thing was all part of the vampire persona.

"Why do you work here?" he finally spoke up. I looked up at him. He was peering around the room in a condemning glare. He obviously disapproved. I controlled myself. Now was not the time to start a fight, especially if I wanted those Paciottis.

I shrugged. "Can't do much else. Utilise your skills, that's what I think."

He turned his gaze to mine. It changed to a questioning glance. "And your skills would be?"

"Being able to pull off a turquoise bunny suit and make mindless chatter with strangers."

He rolled his eyes. "You are quite the academic."

I winked. "That's me."

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, lightening his face. When smiling he didn't actually look like the complete ass he was. It was an accomplishment he should be proud of. I guess he wasn't that bad after all. Maybe. And he was so deliciously attractive. I quickly looked away. This Beloved thing was annoying.

"It's just so degrading." He said. I frowned. It wasn't that bad. Was it? Sure, it was kind of a bitch being stared at all night long, but it wasn't anything someone other than a complete feminist would complain about. "And that outfit…"

"You don't like it?" I asked concerned. I had chosen it from the selection the employees had on offer. I thought it suited me. And it wasn't over-the-top slutty, just sexy. But if Dmitri didn't like it then maybe it wasn't. Maybe my tastes were failing me! Dmitri raised an eyebrow at me. "But I thought it showed off my figure? And I like the colour. And it's hard to find something like this that emphasizes but still manages to keep these breasts under control. The first outfit I tried was hopeless; right in the middle of a shift they popped right out."

My words had caused Dmitri's view to slowly lower until it rested on the ample cleavage of the girls in front of me. I looked down at them then back at Dmitri. He suddenly coughed and looked decidedly in the other direction. I noticed in the fleeting glance I had of his face that his eyes were a deep green again.

"Um… yeah…" he croaked out.

I felt my cheeks gradually warm. Awkward.

"I need the bathroom." I said and stood. Dmitri stood with me. I narrowed my eyes. "I can go to the loo on my own, you know."

"No."

I threw my arms up in the air before stomping away to the back room. I couldn't see Dmitri following me, but I knew he was. Creepy vampire stalker techniques. He emerged when we reached the ratty door with the ladies sign on it. I stared at him and put my hands on my hips.

"Right, you are not following me in there." He slouched against the wall next to the door. I nodded, proud that I had won this round, before closing the door behind me.

* * *

The door burst open almost as soon as the scream had left my mouth.

"What's wrong?" Dmitri said frantically, looking around the small room for some sort of threat. I stared down at my feet, the moisture in my eyes increasing. Dmitri turned to me, a panicked look on his face. "Kali, what happened?"

I lifted my foot.

"I've scuffed my shoes!" I wailed. All expression left Dmitri's face. Then a new one surfaced. Anger.

"That's it?" he hissed. "You scream for _that_?"

"But they're ruined!"

"Then buy another pair!"

I stomped my foot back down and held him in a death glare, my finger pointed firmly at his face. "For your information, these were a vintage one-off Roger Vivier design! They should retail for over a thousand pounds! And I found them in a charity shop for twenty quid! If you can find me another pair like them then be my guest! But for now, just shut up!"

"But if they were only twenty quid then why-"

"That's not the point, vamp boy!"

"Dark One!"

"_Vampire_!"

"_Dark One_!"

"_Vam_-"

His lips were on mine before I even knew what was happening.

I stood there shocked for all of two seconds, not moving a muscle, but soon an incredible desire blossomed deep in my gut. My eyes fluttered shut. My hands reached out and rummaged into his hair. My lips greeted his eagerly. I heard the door close quietly behind him before his hands were on me, burning my sides where he grasped the silky material of the basque.

-pire.

He pushed me against the tiles on the wall and his tongue slipped smoothly into my mouth.

_Dark One._

I nipped at his tongue and he groaned loudly. My arms slithered down and my hands started exploring the strong muscles of his back. One of his hands had found my backside and was squeezing it gleefully. A flash of images crossed my mind and I relished in the ideas Dmitri was coming up with. I needed to feel his skin properly. I tugged at his shirt until it fell free of his pants and slid my fingers up, stroking the velvety skin of his back hungrily. The hand that wasn't currently teasing the skin that connected my thigh to my ass snaked up and cupped my breast. I gasped into his mouth and arched my back as his thumb brushed the sensitive nipple through the material. His lips left mine and he started kissing his way down my jaw line.

"Oh, Christ." I muttered between shallow breaths.

_I thought you were Muslim._

Stop ruining it!

He chuckled and the warm air hitting my throat tickled me in ways I hadn't felt before. The fire that had been burning in my groin flared to new heights. I shoved myself firmly against him and he answered by pushing me tighter to the wall. By the pressure that was now digging into my thigh I could tell he was enjoying this as much as I was. He continued sucking on my neck, leaving what I was sure would be a nice shiny love bite later, as his hand began exploring my thigh, gradually making its way closer to where I really wanted it to be.

My fingers were toying with the belt around his waist when the sound of an explosion nearby stopped us in our tracks.

Dmitri jumped away from me and stood, looking alert. I didn't feel as if I could quite support my own weight yet and leant against the wall.

"What was that?" I made out breathlessly. Dmitri put a finger to his lips to quiet me.

Then there was the scream.

The high-pitched wailed that pierced through the air was enough to get me standing again. I involuntarily grasped at Dmitri's wrist. He looked down at me.

_Stay here. _

What? He opened the bathroom door a tiny bit and peered out, checking the hallway beyond.

_Do not move from this spot. _

He glanced quickly back at me before swiftly disappearing out of the room, shutting the door as he went.

I stood for a full three minutes, enduring the horrible silence that had swept over the building, debating what to do. On one hand Dmitri had told me to stay here, I was almost certain that whatever was going on out there was because of my demon issue. On the other I couldn't just hide in a toilet whenever something bad happened.

I finally decided that Dmitri could go screw himself and pulled the door towards me slightly. I poked my head out and scanned the scene.

The corridor was empty.

I stepped carefully out and tried to be as quiet as possible as I made my way down towards the main bar, where I was positive the explosion and scream had come from.

Someone familiar stepped into my path and I froze.

Dmitri?

_What is it?_

I made a booboo.

* * *

_Review?_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

_Don't tell me – you've broken a nail._

Uh, bit of a bigger booboo than that.

There was a pause. Then the next words I heard in my head were dripping with suspicion. _Where are you?_

Err… maybe possibly slightly not where you told me to be.

_Chjort._

"Hello again." My attention was snapped back to the horrible sight before me. Xander was smirking with glee, causing a chill to run down my spine. But that wasn't what had my insides recoiling in terror, for by his sides were two of the most foul creatures I had set my eyes on. They looked like giant black hounds, with blood red eyes and an oozing red dripping from their colossal canines. Their furless skin was covered in scars and boils. Their tails stuck up awkwardly and looked broken in several places. I wanted to run. I wanted to scream. But something, maybe fear, was keeping me locked in place. Xander took a step forwards. The hounds followed. "I do hope this time you will behave a little less cruelly."

I forced a short laugh out of my mouth, it coming far weaker than I would have liked. "I'm not the demon here."

"Of course not." Xander's soft voice flooded my ears. One of the hounds whined beside him.

I needed to get out of here.

Xander and the dogs took another few paces towards me. There must have been less than six meters between us now.

But there was no way I could outrun Xander, let alone those things.

_Kali, what's going on? Where are you?_

I couldn't form a coherent sentence in my brain to describe what was happening, so instead I tried hard to focus on the image in front of me, hoping it would work and Dmitri would see. He had seen my dream after all.

"So," Xander started speaking again. I wanted to hurl. "Are you going to be a good little girl and come quietly this time or will I have to persuade you?"

I did not like how he said '_persuade'_. In the back of my brain, somewhere I hadn't really ever used before, I vaguely noticed the curious feeling I was getting. The feeling of franticly running, of searching for something, of getting closer.

"Well?"

The hound on the right growled.

"I… err…" I was stuttering, having no idea what I could possibly say to improve my situation and stop this demon thing from kidnapping me. "I…"

"Time's running out."

"I… err… _Have you_ _seen the new Miu Miu line of bags that came out last week_?"

Xander stopped mid-stride, obviously taken aback. I was fairly surprised myself. I hadn't meant to say that at all. I'd meant to say something witty and clever and inexplicably apt. But, noooo. When troubled and lost my mind went back to what it knew best – fashion.

No matter how stupid and irrelevant it was.

"What?"

"Miu Miu."

"What?"

"Miu Miu."

"Wha-"

Xander was cut off mid-what by the streaming blur that hit him face-on. I took a step back and gasped in shock. Hazy colours were tumbling in a ball on the floor. I could make out that one of the shapes of Xander, but I knew that from the fact that it had been him to fall to the ground. The hounds were snarling and barking at the brawl. It looked like they were unsure what to do. One of the bulbs smashed overhead. Then I caught sight of the flash of grey.

_Run, idiot!_

Something within me snapped. My brain kicked into gear and my legs started working again. I scrambled backwards before getting my bearings and finally managing to sprint as fast as I could in the opposite direction of the commotion. There was a frustrated yell from behind me. I kept on running. I heard what could only be described as slavering getting closer and closer. I didn't have the guts to look. I knew what it was that was chasing me. I didn't want to have to look at those gleaming red eyes again.

I slammed the large metal door behind me and slid the locking bar into place, praying it would hold. There was a large bang and the door shuddered as something hit it. I stood and stared at it, not wanting to turn my back on it in case it suddenly broke down. There were several thuds against it before a large howl was released.

Then there was silence.

I waited, shivering. There was nothing. I tentatively stepped back a few paces, keeping my eyes on the door at all time. I only stopped when I felt my back scrape against the brick of the building behind me. I forced my eyes away from the door, quick enough to peer up and down the alleyway, then brought them back to the grey metal.

My arms had involuntarily wrapped themselves around my chest in an attempt to stop the shivering, despite knowing that it was nothing to do with the chilly night and my skimpy attire. My breath was shaky. I wondered whether I should move or not. In the movies the heroine always instinctively knows what she should do to escape, always has a plan forming in her mind. I had nothing. I knew nothing. I was just a shopping-obsessed bimbo with no clue how to cope when danger came a knocking. This wasn't me.

I gasped as something hit me.

Dmitri.

Dmitri! You there?

There was no response. Oh, God. Oh, God. What if Xander had killed him? What if one of those hounds got to him first? What if he was dead because he had tried to help me?

I couldn't help the tears that were welling up in my eyes.

Dmitri, you bastard, answer me!

_Shut up, I'm trying to think._

You're alive!

_Of course, now be quiet._

Hmpff. I had obviously forgotten what a giant ass he was. Maybe it would have been better if he _had_ died. Then, at least, I could get some peace and quiet. I couldn't believe I had been worried about him.

You _want peace and quiet? Says the girl who never shuts up. _

Hey! That was uncalled fo-

_Where are you?_

Oh, the alley out back. I managed to lock the door to the club pretty tight and that thing gave up after a bit. I think I'm safe at the moment. If anything were to happen to me it would have done so already. The only thing that bothers me is what to do now.

_Stay where you are. I'll come find you._

Ok.

Staying where I was. That I could do. It involved no expertise and no increased brain activity. Something I was born to do. I leant against the wall and sighed, slightly more relieved now Dmitri had contacted me and I knew I didn't have to work everything out on my own. It was amazing what not being alone could do for you. I was more than a little curious as to what had happened in that fight with Xander, but if Dmitri was fine then I guessed it probably worked out alright in the end. Xander might even be dead. If you could kill a demon. I couldn't quite remember from all the demon talk yesterday what Allie had said about it.

There had been something about a special voodoo person who was good with getting rid of demons, but did they kill them or do something else? Did it have to be one of the voodoo people or could it be anyone as long as they knew what to do? I wondered if-

My thoughts trailed off.

The rusty slimy goop that had dripped onto my shoulder looked awfully familiar. And awfully not like anything that was usually found around here.

I slowly looked up, half of me scared to look.

The hound snarled at me.

With a sudden burst of adrenaline I kicked myself away from the wall and hurled myself down the alley. The hound leapt off the fire escape and landed in my path. I made a quick turn and started in the other direction, knocking over several trashcans on my way in an attempt to slow down the bounding beast. There was a sharp clang as one of the cans struck the dog straight on the nose and it rebounded and slid a couple of meters away. I made the most of my chance and sprinted down the road. The growling from behind me was getting nearer again, no matter how many things I tried to throw in its way.

A shiny black four-by-four halted at the end of the alleyway, the light from the streetlamp bouncing off the blacked-out windows and making it impossible to see who was inside. I didn't need to though. I already knew who it was.

The passenger door flew open and Dmitri flung out a hand as he leant across from the driver's side. I was almost there. But the hound was almost on me too. I stumbled, my delicate vintage heel finally giving out and snapping. I was sent flying forwards by my momentum. I reached my hand out desperately. I felt something warm brush the fingertips then slide away. My face was about to hit the concrete in front of me. Then a hand grasped around my wrist and yanked me upwards. The owner caught me elegantly before pulling me sideways into the car and slamming the door shut. The hound's red slobber spattered against the window as it snapped at it furiously. A crack appeared where one of its fangs struck. My head snapped round to Dmitri, who was getting a grip on the steering wheel and finally smashed his foot on the accelerator. I was sent backwards into my seat as we sped off, the hound creature yapping ferociously as we disappeared around a corner away from _Poppy's_.

I clutched at my heart and tried to steady my breathing. Dmitri's crazy driving wasn't helping. I watched the white lines blur before speeding under the vehicle, panting heavily.

"What…" I finally managed to force out of my mouth, "… the hell… was that?"

"Devourers of Abaddon." Dmitri answered matter-of-factly. He didn't even sound out of breath. I turned my head to look at him. He was pulling a cell phone out of his pocket with one hand while keeping his other on the wheel. I gasped. He peered sideways at me. "Hellhounds."

"Oh my God! Look at you!"

Dmitri was a mess. There was blood staining his face and one of his shoulders looked like it was in tatters. A deep gash ran down his chest.

"I'm fine." He said while pressing some numbers into the phone.

"No, you're not! We have to get you to the hospital! No way-"

"I said I'm fine!"

He held the phone up to his ear and I heard the faint ringing from the other end of the line.

"Who are you calling?" I asked, still worried about his health. Surely one person, vampire or not, couldn't lose that much blood and still be alright to drive?

"Christian."

The ringing stopped and I heard a murmur come from the phone. Dmitri started talking rapidly in Russian. The conversation in a language I remembered very little of continued for a good five minutes. Dmitri's expression gradually got more and more concerned. Little lines were showing on his bloody forehead. I got equally anxious as it went on. Finally Dmitri hung up.

"What's wrong?"

"They're surrounding the house. To go back there would be suicide."

"What? But what about Christian and Allie and the kid? They're alright, aren't they?" My voice was rising in pitch as I spoke. Maybe Christian was a tool, but he had taken me in when I needed help. If he or his family were hurt because of me then-

"The house is well protected. No demon will get inside." Dmitri reassured me. His voice was so certain that I couldn't help calming somewhat. "And as for Josef, he was sent to stay at a family friend's shortly after you arrived."

"Oh." Well, that helped a little bit. At least I knew the kid wouldn't get hurt because of me. "So where are we going then?"

I lurched into the window as Dmitri took a sudden right.

"The only place we can."

---

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	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

"_This_ is the only place we can go?" I asked incredulously.

"What did you expect? Some secret underground hideout stocked with weapons and high-tech gadgets?"

"Well…" I don't know what I had expected, but this hadn't been it. Maybe something with a bit more pizzazz, like a fancy apartment or a rich friend's place. Not a rundown hotel in the middle of the city. It was just so ordinary. And boring. A secret underground hideout would have been way cooler.

Dmitri rang the bell on the front desk. I tugged at the coat he had so generously, not-at-all-because-he-didn't-want-other-men-goggling, offered me, making sure that it looked like I was wearing something other than a scanty basque and panties underneath. Dmitri had been harder to sort out, what with all the blood and gore, but somehow – don't ask me how – he had managed to get most of the blood off. And by strategically placing a bag over his shoulder he succeeded in covering most of the shreds of his flesh. It did look like he was using that speedy vamp healing thingy – the gash in his chest had almost disappeared – but he certainly hadn't recovered completely yet.

My shoes were in far worse shape. I had to discard them completely. I shed a silent tear in the car for their loss.

A small man hobbled over to the counter and peered questioningly at us over his spectacles. "Yes?"

"We need a room." Dmitri said instantly.

A? As in singular?

_It would raise suspicion to get two. _

The man narrowed his eyes at us. He didn't look as if he trusted two strange people who unexpectedly needed a place to stay in the early hours of the morning. I decided I might as well play the part then. I put on my best European accent, something not difficult since I only lost mine completely a few years ago. "There was a mixing up at hotel that we had arranged. Room is now gone. Me and my fiancé just need somewhere for night, yes?"

_Fiancé?_

Yes, Sweetums. I wrapped my arm around his waist and smiled at the hotelman. He made some form of incoherent grumbling noise and turned to look at the book on the desk in front of him. I glanced at Dmitri. He was giving me a very odd look indeed.

_Sweetums?_

Yes, Honeybunch.

_Honeybunch?_

The man reached under the desk and pulled out a small key attached to a card with the number three hundred and four written in a large bold font. "Three oh four." The man said needlessly, before holding out an empty hand. "Thirty five pounds."

Dmitri pulled some notes out of his pockets, shoved them at the man, grabbed the key, then started yanking me towards the stairs. I could feel the man watching my bare feet behind me.

"Don't you have a flat or something we could stay at?" I whispered, not liking the atmosphere of this place at all.

"I live in Paris, and believe it or not, I do not have apartments in every city on the globe."

"I never thought you did." I snapped back. "It's just that, well… this is _London_."

_And?_

"Well, it's… nice."

"I can assure you it is no nicer than Paris."

Stupid stuck up vampire thinking everything he had was better than what anyone else did – including his city of residence. I liked London. It had good clubs and shops and the people weren't that annoying 'I'm-going-to-be-nice-to-you-even-though-I-secretly-despise-you' attitude you sometimes found. Here it was what you saw was what you got. Sure, Paris was the fashion capital of the world. And it had nice art. And good coffee. And no one cared whether you smoked. And the people were joyously rude. And the buildings were pretty. And the public transport was good. And it was the fashion capital of the world. I sighed. I guessed I secretly wanted to live somewhere like Paris after all. But Dmitri didn't have to know that.

Dmitri turned the key in the lock and pushed open the white door on the third floor. I stepped inside and he followed, shutting and locking the door behind him.

"So then," I said as I plonked myself down on the edge of the double bed, "how's this going to work? Who's going to sleep where and what-not?"

He threw the bag he was carrying beside the small chest of drawers and walked over to the mirror by what I assumed was the bathroom. "You can have the bed if that's what you're worried about."

He started inspecting his wounds that were still oozing a thick red goop. I didn't fail to notice him wince when he touched his shoulder.

"Are you sure you're alright?" I asked tentatively while taking the coat off and laying it next to me on the bed. He looked at me in the mirror. His eyes were dark.

"It's nothing."

"But… umm… shouldn't you have healed by now or something? You know, with your special vampire powers."

"Dark One."

He had turned his attention back to his shoulder. I grimaced as he peeled back a piece of material that had lodged itself in a cut. I had a sneaky suspicion he was trying to avoid answering my question.

"Dmitr- Oh good lord." He had given up trying to pick at the gash through his shirt and had instead opted to casually discarding it and chucking it over so that it landed on top of the duffle bag. I tried not to look. Honest I did. But he had caught me so completely off guard that it was hard not to stare at that gorgeous muscular back of his.

"What?" he turned and raised a confused eyebrow at me. Oh dear. The front was worse than the back. Not overly defined like a body builder, but undeniably beefy. And the spattering of chest hair. Sweet lordy-lu I liked chest hair. I bit my lip. Dmitri shrugged then turned back to the mirror.

With a chest like that I wondered what his ass would look like. My gaze dropped several inches to his jeans.

"Kali, we have already completed a fourth step tonight, we will not make it a fifth."

"Mm-hmm." I remarked absent-mindedly, my gaze still focused on the mysterious denim-clad backside.

"Kali." Dmitri said in a warning tone. I snapped out of it and hurried off to the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I went over to the sink, took some deep breaths, before turning the tap. After splashing my face a few times, in an attempt to get some of the sweat caked makeup off, I turned and made my way back into the bedroom. Dmitri was still looking his wounds over.

"Why haven't you healed by now?" I waited for a few seconds without getting an answer. "Dmitri, why?"

"Because I haven't fed in a few days, alright?" he snapped quietly.

"Oh," Well, that took me by surprise. I had no idea vampires needed fresh blood to heal. Yeah, I knew without it they were weaker, but healing had never really crossed my mind. "Well, you know, if you need a snack or anything then-"

"No." he interrupted firmly.

"But if you're goi-"

"I said no!"

And with that he snatched the coat off of the bed, yanked it on, and stomped out.

I blinked. What was up with him? It was only a bit of blood I was offering.

Wasn't it?

* * *

"Finally! Where have you be- What's that?"

Dmitri slumped into the room and dumped the carrier bags down on the bed. I stubbed my cigarette, which I had cleverly found a pack of left behind in the room, out on the window frame before dropping it down into the road below. I approached the bed.

"Clothes and food." Dmitri answered.

I peered at the bags.

"Where did you get them?"

He shrugged. I looked at the bedside clock. Three forty am. I decided I didn't want to know what Dmitri had done to get these and instead opened the bag nearest me. I immediately grabbed one of the chocolate bars and started unwrapping it. Dmitri went and sat on the small chair by the window while I riffled through the second bag, filled to the brim with different materials.

There were a couple of t-shirts, a pair of jeans and a sweater. I looked at them carefully. They weren't actually that bad. Knowing Dmitri I'd expected him to bring back some form of ugly cover-me-all bag. But this I could wear.

"What about shoes?" I asked him. He nodded back to the food bag. I rummaged through until I found what I was looking for. I took a sharp intake of breath. "But these… they're… they're…"

I held the ratty beige trainers out at arm's length. I grimaced at them. Dmitri was smirking slightly. I let out a frustrated yell and threw them to the other side of the room. I turned back to Dmitri and put my hands on my hips.

"You knew how I felt about shoes and yet you bri-"

"They're sensible. And that's what you need at the moment." He answered in a casual tone that had my anger soaring even higher. I couldn't deny his logic though. It had been my nice heels that had caused me almost to be ripped to shreds by one of those hellhounds.

"How did you even know my size?"

He tilted his head at me. "I was forced to go through your entire wardrobe at your apartment, remember?"

"What?" I shouted. "And you looked at the sizes?"

He shrugged.

I stormed over to him and pointed at his face. His eyes widened slightly.

"You never _ever_ peek at a woman's dress size without her permission! It's one of the most personal things she has! It's a sacred secret she discloses only to friends and people she can trust and shop assistants! And yet you… _you_…"

"There's nothing wrong with your dress size."

"That doesn't mean-"

"If I hadn't, you wouldn't have any clothes now." He pointed out. I stopped yelling. He had me there. I grumbled something under my breath before stomping back to the bags.

"You've forgotten something, you know."

He narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"Underwear."

He was silent for a moment. "I, uh, assumed you had that covered already."

I gave him what I hoped was a 'you're-an-idiot' look. Then I indicated my current attire. "This _is_ underwear. And for your information, this basque – not the most comfy thing to run around in all day."

He gave my length a far too long look then quickly averted his gaze. "I'll get you something later."

"Good."

"I don't know your bra size though."

I threw one of the t-shirts at his slightly smiling face. He tried to hold back a laugh. "I don't!"

A smirk started to grow on my face. "Thirty-six double D."

I caught a glimpse of Dmitri's face as all expression instantly left, before picking up the jeans and the remaining t-shirt and trotting towards the bathroom to change, happy that my work was done. Dmitri was sure to be pondering that little bit of information for a while anyway.

After the hectic night running around terrified, the shower felt like heaven, even if there was no hot water. It just felt so nice to be clean again. Anything was nicer than sweat and hellhound drool.

"Christ, I'm sorry!"

I swept around, saw Dmitri determinedly looking at the floor by the door and quickly tugged the shower curtain around me.

"Oh my God!" I yelled in horror. "Why the hell did you come in like that?"

"I did knock!" he shouted back at me. I pulled the shower curtain tighter. He had a nerve to shout at me! I wasn't the one who had snuck in and spied on him showering! Although, there was a thought.

"Who the hell hears a shower running, knocks, gets no reply, and then comes in anyway?" I screamed. Dmitri took up a defensive stance. I wanted to hit him, but that would involve moving away from my cover.

"Who the hell doesn't draw the shower curtain?"

"Get out!"

He slammed the door behind him.

* * *

I purposely ignored Dmitri's lame ass apologies when I got back into the bedroom, instead walking over to the mirror and starting to detangle my wet hair without the use of a brush. He was such a jerk. I bet he hadn't even knocked. He just wanted a peek after hearing my bra size. Well, tough luck mister. That was the only peek you're gonna get.

"How did you get that scar?"

I froze, not wanting to believe what he had asked. He couldn't have seen, could he? I regained my composure and continued sorting through my hair. It was too late. If he had asked about it then he had seen. All there was to do now was to stay cool.

"The war."

"Oh."

My eyes subconsciously drifted downwards until they rested on my t-shirt in the mirror. I knew what my scar looked like and I knew it wasn't pretty. The entire right side of my stomach was covered in a blotchy red burn mark. It was one of the reasons I wore a basque to work instead of a bustier or plain bra. The guys I dated, well, it tended to creep them out a bit. Because of my work they started off idolising my body into something it wasn't, and when they saw such a giant flaw staring them in the face it was like their whole image of me collapsed. Most of them couldn't live with the duplicity.

Dmitri had clearly noticed that I had stopped fingering through my hair and was standing dead still. He stepped up so that he was right behind my back.

_It's nothing to be ashamed of._

I turned around so that our noses were only inches apart.

"I'm not ashamed of it."

His eyes, still dark, were somewhat softer than before. I noticed just how pale he was. Paler than usual, anyway.

_Good._

"You're hungry." I stated. There was no point denying it. I could feel the longing within him. He knew that I knew too.

"Yes."

"Then why-" a realisation hit me then. I noticed the other feeling swelling up within him, mixing and swirling with the hunger. Lust. From all the modern rubbish that vampire fiction writers wrote these days I had heard a great deal about the erotic nature of feeding, but that was just tripe produced to sell books. Well, I had thought it was. But then again, I had thought the whole vampire notion was. And looking into Dmitri's almost black eyes now, I started to doubt my beliefs.

Something was sparking inside me, like before. But this time, the anticipation was causing my brain to almost overload.

"You know, there is a line in Dorian Gray that I hold deep in my heart." I whispered, my gaze stuck on Dmitri's eyes.

"Yes?" he whispered back. I gulped as his breath tickled my lips, trying to control myself.

"'The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.'"

A small smile grew at the edge of Dmitri's mouth, causing my stomach to do a full back flip.

"Quite right too." He answered.

"And, I mean," I noticed just how breathy my voice was but didn't really care anymore, "five steps, that's nothing, isn't it? And so long as we don't complete the other two it'll be fine. We could just… just yield to temptation?"

Dmitri stared at me, his face blank of any emotions. But his eyes were getting blacker and blacker by the second. I waited patiently, wishing he'd hurry and make his mind up. Finally he did.

"Yes."

* * *

_Review?_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Dmitri suddenly stepped back.

"I need a shower."

I blinked.

"What?" He started making his way towards the bathroom. I stood there, a mix of shock, rejection and frustration on my face. "But I thought you just said-"

"In case you haven't noticed, despite my best efforts I am currently covered in my own blood."

"So?" I asked as he stopped by the bathroom and turned to me. "I've always thought that a little blood added a certain rugged something to a man. I don't ca-"

"May I remind you," he interrupted, giving me a downright patronizing glare, "of the seventh step to joining? If you were to ingest any of my blood and I was then to feed on you…"

I pouted.

"Ok, I get it." I was fairly annoyed at this Beloved thing. Yet again it had chosen to interrupt a perfectly good moment with some crazy rubbish steps. Dmitri closed the bathroom door behind him. "Wait!"

"What?" he sighed, poking his head out from around the corner. I tried to focus on what I wanted to say and not the fact that he had already removed his shirt. It was extremely difficult.

"Uh," that was a good start. I shook my head to wake myself up a bit. "Don't you need my blood to heal? Otherwise you're just going to keep on bleeding everywhere."

"Yes, but I cannot bite you until-"

"You've healed? That's a vicious circle, you know?" It was my turn to give him the patronizing stare. He frowned slightly. I continued. "Oh, it can't be that bad, right? I mean, it's just a little bite. Why don't you just take what you need to heal before having a shower and then we can get around to the big feed?"

"I don't thi-"

"Just a little nibble before the main course, if you will."

Dmitri walked out of the bathroom and stood a couple of feet in front of me. I tried not to lick my lips at the sight of his bare chest. It was perfection… if you ignored the whole tattered shoulder and blood stains thing. He crossed his arms and gave me a very stern look. I could tell he didn't approve of my idea; he didn't need to tell me to get that message across.

"I do not think that I trust you enough to know that you'll be able to stop after I bite you."

Well, that was nice of him.

"Believe it or not, I do have some level of self-control, enough for this anyway." I told him. His lips thinned.

_But I don't think that I do._

Crap. If that wasn't the single-most sexy thing I had ever heard. Golly gosh my knees felt unstable.

I pulled my hair out of the way then tilted my head upwards, so that my neck was on full display. "Fang me."

He peered at me doubtfully, as if considering my offer. He then shook his head. I frowned at him in disappointment. He reached out and took hold of my arm instead, positioning it so that he was facing my outer edge of my upper arm.

"No major arteries." He explained. I gulped as he stepped closer, but only so much that there was what he had deemed a safe distance between us. He lowered his head. This better be good after all this hype he had built up about it. A blast of hunger suddenly flared from him. At the last minute I decided I couldn't look and swept my head around to face the other way.

I had expected pain. That was always what happened in the books and movies. Pain that was suddenly taken over by euphoric pleasure. I was therefore horrified when I felt nothing more than a tiny sting before my body erupted as if on fire. I could feel his thirst, and a hunger for something other than blood, and the emotions swirled within my chest as my toes started curling. I fell against the wall behind me, the deep pleasure turning my legs to jelly. I bit down on my lips. His desperate thirst was still strong around us. I could feel myself being brought closer to the edge. I needed to touch him. I needed his hands on me. I needed him.

He stopped abruptly and stepped away, breathing heavily.

No! No stopping! Stopping was not allowed at a time like that! I looked at my arm, trying to not let my inner frustration show on the outside. There was little more there than a bruise. I looked up again, in shock of what had just happened and what I had just felt. Dmitri was gone and the door to the bathroom was closing softly.

* * *

After a good three minutes of standing there, getting my breath back, I had finally been able to make my shaky way over to the bed, onto which I immediately flopped down. My insides were still churning and a very specific part of my anatomy was being particularly animated in its complaints that Dmitri had stopped. I just hoped he was busy doing some serious healing in there. It didn't seem like he had drunken that much – he was certainly still hungry when he pulled away – but maybe vampires didn't need that much if you concentrated the energy into a particular aspect, like healing. I didn't really have a clue. I just wanted to try it again.

I glanced at the clock. Christ, he had been in there well over six and a half minutes! Why couldn't he just hurry up? It wasn't like he needed to completely fix himself. He just needed to stop the bleeding. That shouldn't take that long, should it?

I was starting to itch about. As time went on, I was getting gradually more and more impatient. And more and more sexually irritated. It didn't help that every now and then I'd get a flash of Dmitri's own lust in my head. God damn it, what was he doing in that bathroom?

Finally, after what seemed like an hour – although I suppose it had been only ten minutes or so – the door creaked open. Dmitri stared at me, his hair dripping wet around his face. Where there had been huge gashes in his skin there were now only red marks. They looked sore, but definitely not bleeding. I was a little disappointed to see that he had put his jeans back on, despite both our knowledge that they'd be coming off again almost instantly. It would have been nice to get a peek at him from this distance.

He took a few slow steps towards the bed. I sat up. I suddenly felt extremely nervous about what we were about to do, as if I knew in my head it was wrong, but it somehow still felt right. He paused.

"You sure you want to do this?" he asked. I felt my heart rate step it up a notch. All of a sudden I didn't care about the consequences of another step taken. I wanted him. And by the colour of his eyes I could tell he wanted me too.

I didn't answer verbally. Instead I stood and walked over to him. When we were close enough that I could feel his body heat radiating from his flesh, I gently touched the damp skin at the top of his chest with a finger. I saw him shiver slightly. Very slowly, I traced the line going down the centre of his chest, all the way down his stomach until I stopped a few inches above his trousers. I gazed up at him through my eyelashes and bit my lip in what I hoped was a seductive way.

Apparently it was, because the next moment I was off my feet and almost being thrown onto the bed. Dmitri climbed on top of me but then stopped. By this time I'd had enough waiting. I reached up and pulled his head downwards, leaning up at the same time to catch his lips in mine. He immediately responded, his lips teasing mine far too gently for my liking. I pushed my tongue into his mouth and started exploring. His hunger increased and wrapped itself around me while his tongue struggled against mine in a fight for dominance. With one of my hands I tugged at his wet hair, with the other I set about scouring his chest, running my fingers across the subtle lines there before stroking one of his nipples. He groaned into my mouth and I felt a heavenly scratch against my tongue as he started sucking on it enthusiastically.

His hands were steadily moving further and further up my stomach under my shirt, sending little fires dancing across my skin. He pulled me up from the bed and we broke our kiss briefly as he tugged the t-shirt over my head. He lay me back down and I moaned loudly as his hand found my bare breasts, suddenly glad he had forgotten to bring me underwear. His lips left my mouth and started wandering down my chin to my neck. I arched my back, closing the gap between us, so that tickles of delight ran down my spine as his chest hair brushed against my flesh. Both my hands tangled themselves in his hair while he kissed his way down my collar bone to the valley in my bust. I could feel one of his hands starting to play with the zipper on my jeans even as his mouth made a path up one of my breasts. I gasped as he took the nipple in his mouth and began licking and sucking eagerly.

His blood-thirst spiked again. I could hardly bare it. Bite me. Just… bite me. He let out a small carnal growl that sent shivers all the way down to my toes. Almost too quickly, his fangs pierced my flesh. I held back as much as my scream as possible. As he drank, I could feel his desire more clearly than ever. It reached out and sent my own lust into overdrive. He had managed to undo my trousers and as he slipped his fingers down their front, I knew I couldn't take much more of this. His finger grazed my most sensitive area and I couldn't hold back any longer. He continued to drink from me, encircling me with his thoughts, as I spilled over into a glorious orgasm.

He lifted his head from my bosom and speedily yanked at my jeans until they came loose and he threw them across the room. His mouth found mine again and he kissed me with almost brutal force. He pulled away and hastily removed his own trousers and boxers. I watched, slightly in awe of how graceful he was even in this frantic state of mind. I bit my lip at the full sight of him. He wasn't the biggest man I had ever seen, but he was certainly no midget.

My hands wound around to his back as our lips crashed together. I could feel his desperate need, not only against my thigh, but also in my head. I let his tongue boss mine around for a bit, still slightly shaken by my previous climax. He spread my thighs apart. A colossal groan left my mouth as his hand brushed my centre. I couldn't wait any longer.

He positioned himself above me before nipping at my bottom lip enthusiastically. I had to dig my fingers into the muscles of his back to stop from screaming when he pressed inside me. His mind poured into mine as he started moving within me, flooding me with his pleasure and passion. I spun within it, bringing my knees up to give him easier access and thrusting my pelvis upwards to meet him. We began moving together, in mind and body, and a white hot blaze exploded throughout my form. I was positive my fingernails were making deep scratches in his flesh, but was terrified to let go in case I fell into the dark abyss that was threatening at my edges. And I saw it inside him. That gaping hole where a soul should have been. But this time I could reach out to it. I wanted to fill it with light. I needed to. I poured everything I had into him. All the passion. All the joy. He violently plunged his fangs into my neck, lapping up the red liquid, and I was sent over the edge into the most profound climax I had ever had. My release fuelled his own and he soon collapsed on top of me.

We lay there entwined, breathing heavily, too exhausted to move. His face was buried in the pillow next to my head. I don't think I even had the strength to raise my arms away from his back.

I looked up at the ceiling as his mind left mine and my thoughts tried to rearrange themselves into something tangible.

"Wow."

* * *

_Review?_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

After a good five minutes of being positively crushed, Dmitri rolled off of me. Both of our breathing was still ragged and my heart was still pounding in my ears.

"We definitely should not have done that." Dmitri said next to me.

"Urgh." Was all I could make out. My brain was still in shreds and my eyelids were getting heavier by the second.

"Definitely should not have." He repeated. Maybe we shouldn't have, but at this moment in time I frankly didn't give a shit. All I really cared about was the immense feeling of satisfaction rolling off both of our bodies. The sheets rustled beside me as Dmitri shifted his weight. "We forgot something."

"Gah." Forgot what? How stupid it would be to complete another step of the joining? Of course I hadn't forgotten that. It was just insignificant.

"Protection."

Protection against what? Vampires couldn't get any funky diseases down there, could they? What was the big deal? And also, how could he be talking so normally when my brain was in tatters?

"Hmm?"

"Are you on the pill?"

"Don't be silly," I muttered, my eyes having by now drifted shut, "vampires can't have kids."

The bed dipped as he moved again. I could positively feel him glaring at my inanimate form. "Dark One. And I think we can."

I sighed. "No you can't. Everyone knows vampires suffer for all eternity alone with their undead sperm."

"Kali." His forceful tone had me forcing my eyes open into slits. His blurry form was hovering above me. Even when blurry it was good looking. "We are not vampires and our sperm is not undead. We are men like any other. What did you think happened to Allie and Nell? They asked an angel for a baby and woke up the next morning pregnant?"

I guess I hadn't thought of that. Allie and Nell both had a kid, or were expecting one, and by the looks of it Christian and Adrian were the retrospective fathers. But if that was the case then…

"Aww, crap."

"Precisely."

My eyes had shut themselves again. I was too exhausted to think anything through at the moment, let alone the prospect of vampire seed being planted in my belly. What I really needed now was some good old fashioned sleep. Sleep was good. I waved Dmitri away lazily.

"I'll sort it out in the morning."

"It is the morning."

"It's-" I yawned, "-an expression."

Dmitri grumbled something to himself before there was a sudden plonk in the bed that I guessed was him lying back down. I just lay there and within a matter of seconds felt myself disappear into a sweet dreamworld.

* * *

I woke feeling surprisingly warm for an autumn day. I realised as I let my thoughts connect with my feelings that someone must have pulled the covers over me while I was sleeping. But that wasn't the main source of the heat. It was a lot more corporal than that. A lot more bodily.

I let my eyes pry open. The room was dark but for a slither of light escaping through a crack in the curtains. I reached in my brain and tried to find the part that would recognise what was going on. I squirmed slightly, feeling my surroundings. My eyes suddenly popped wide. During our sleep mine and Dmitri's limbs had somehow joined and were now firmly entwined, our skin brushing against each other in the slow rhythm of our breathing. The thing I was resting my head on, which I thought was a bit too lumpy for a pillow, was in fact a crook between his chest and arm. The thing my hand was sprawled across was not the pillow case, but instead the soft skin on Dmitri's chest.

For some unknown reason I felt a small smile tugging at my lips. I don't know why, but somehow, probably the whole Beloved thing, it just felt so comfortable where I was. I doubt I could have moved with his arm wrapped tightly around my waist or his leg trapping one of mine, but even if I could have, I don't think I would have wanted to. It was just so… right. There was no other word for it.

"That tickles, you know."

I tilted my head to glance at the face of the person who had broken my lovely peace. He peered down through extremely tired-looking slitted eyes at me. I had no idea what he was talking about. I wasn't tickling him. Dmitri nodded sluggishly at his chest. I looked and to my astonishment found my finger drawing pretty little circles all over his flesh.

I immediately stopped.

"Sorry."

He yawned. "No problem."

"How'd you sleep?" I asked, not at all worried about the fact I was sprawled across the bed naked, entangled with an equally naked Dmitri. He didn't seem to care either.

"Great." He mumbled, his speech still a little slurred from tiredness. It was excruciatingly cute. "How about you?"

"Amazing."

"You're welcome."

I whacked him playfully across that cocky chest of his. He let out a deep chuckle. I wasn't about to tell him that that was the best sleep I'd had for years. And I certainly wasn't about to tell him that it was indeed down to our bedtime activities. The room would probably explode from his ego.

For five minutes we just lay there, my fingers starting to draw invisible lines across his torso again, my eyes following the trail, his hand gently stroking up and down my arm. I had no idea what time it was. By the angle the light was coming in between the curtains I'd say mid-to-late-afternoon, but I could have been completely wrong. There was something very strange about what we were doing. It was a situation that you'd normally only find lovers in, and yet we were nothing of the sort. It was subconscious. Something deep within us.

"So we can do this, right?" I finally voiced.

"Do what?"came his groggy response.

"This. This whole bed thing. This morning. That thing." I wasn't really explaining it very well. I knew that. But I was pretty sure Dmitri got what I was talking about. "Like friends with benefits. Except we're not really friends. How about two people who know each other with benefits? That would work."

His fingers halted in their path up and down my arm. He didn't say anything for a moment, obviously thinking about something. I was getting more and more nervous. If he didn't say something soon I was going to have to move my knee very suddenly into the area of his anatomy that was dangerously close anyway.

_Please don't._

"You would deserve it." I retorted.

He sighed. "Yes, two people who know each other with benefits would work."

There was no trace of dishonesty in his voice, but the emotions rolling off of him had me thinking that maybe he wasn't being completely sincere. It was as if he knew something and wasn't telling me. I didn't like it.

"Speaking of which," I decided to change the subject, hoping the awkwardness would subside, "I actually don't really know you at all. I don't even know your last name."

I turned my head so that I could see his face. He was giving me a puzzled look. "Why do you want to know?"

"Well," I began, shifting my weight so that I was lying on top of him, my chin resting on my hands, peering up at him. He wrapped his arms around my waist. "Unlike some people, I like to know exactly who it is I'm sleeping with."

"I know who I'm sleeping with."

"Exactly. You know loads about me, but I know practically nothing about you. It's really unfair."

He seemed to consider this a moment, before apparently deciding I was right and shrugging. The movement caused me to bob slightly.

"My last name's Yurievich." He stated.

"And?"

"And what?"

"And…" I rolled my eyes dramatically. He just didn't get it, did he? "… tell me about yourself. What are your hobbies, apart from drinking the blood of the innocent? Do you work? If so, where? If it was a hospital you could get all the free blood you wanted. Ooo, are you a doctor? How do you manage to withhold your bloodlust while operating? Do the other doctors ever get suspicious? Do-"

"Kali, I'm not a doctor." He answered with a cocked eyebrow. I pouted slightly. Doctors were sexy. "And yes I work. How else could I afford to live? Apart from living off my flatmate, that is."

I pinched his nipple rather hard.

"Ow!" he whined. I smirked at him. Well, if he was going to insult me all the time without even a thought to where we were. "Ok, ok. I own a small financial services firm. A _small_ one. Don't start getting all dreamy eyed at me thinking I'm rich or anything."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"But that's so… so…" I struggled to find the right word, "…_normal_."

"Indeed it is." He said with a smile on his face. I pinched his nipple again, but slightly softer this time. He winced and yet I had a sneaky suspicion he was only pretending it hurt.

"How old are you?" I asked curiously, "Like, a hundred and forty or something?"

"I doubt you really want to know the answer to that."

What? Yes, I did. In fact, he saying I didn't want to know made me want to know more! Ok, I was a child, but that didn't him the right to play with my inquisitiveness like this! No fair! No fair!

"Yes I do."

He gave me a patronising stare. I just kept my nosy face on. He shook his head and sighed. "I will be six hundred and ten next year."

"Oh." I paused, more than a little surprised at the news that he was almost six centuries older than me. "That's quite the age gap."

_Told you you didn't want to know._

Nah, it was nothing. I've always liked older men anyway.

"Older as in five hundred and eighty two years?"

"Meh." I shrugged.

Dmitri let out a breath of laughter. I lay my head back down on his chest so that I got a nice view of the bedside table. His hands were slowly rubbing my back in such a soothing way that I swear I could have fallen right back to sleep. The gentle rocking due to his breathing was not helping either. But I kept myself awake.

"I like chest hair."

"I had noticed." Dmitri replied in a voice that sounded as if he was trying not to laugh.

"But I do!"

"And I like big boobs."

I popped up and pinched his nipple as hard as I physically could.

"Ow! _Ow_!" he complained. I gave him my best grumpy face. He raised his eyebrows. "So it's alright for you to objectify me, but I can't objectify you?"

"Yes." I huffed.

"Why?"

"Because I'm a girl."

"Oh, that makes se- _Oww_! Stop doing that!"

"Nope." I said happily before twisting at his nipple again.

"Christ woman, stop it!" He squirmed. I stared him straight in the eye and valiantly stuck my tongue out. A smirk crossed his face. "Alright then."

"What are you dmghm-"

With one fluid movement Dmitri had managed to pull me upwards and bring my head down to catch my lips in his. I struggled half-heartedly for all of a second before giving up and letting his tongue caress mine. His hands slowly floated down until they were cupping my backside. I shifted and brought my knees up so that I was straddling his waist. I nibbled on his bottom lip affectionately causing him to moan into the kiss. I started downwards, my lips dancing across his stubbly chin to his jaw, and then his neck. A growl escaped from his throat.

I stopped suddenly and sat up.

"Kali, don't you dare stop n-"

"Chill out." I reassured him. From the unexpected burst of fire that was exploding in my groin I had no intention of stopping. I just needed to check something before this went any further. "Do you have a condom?"

Little lines appeared on his forehead as if he was trying to think. "Uh, check my wallet." I gave him a blank stare until he elaborated. "Jeans front pocket."

"Thank you." I said before scrabbling around and crawling to the end of the bed. I leaned down, reached for Dmitri's jeans which had been so casually discarded last night, and brought out the black leather wallet from the pocket.

"You have a great ass."

I couldn't help smiling. As I rested on my elbows and undid the popper of the wallet I decided to give him something worth talking about. Slowly, I wiggled my hips from side to side. A bizarre sound halfway between a cough and a grunt came from Dmitri. If he was pleased by that, he should really wait until I got back to him. I pulled the small blue packet from the wallet, turned back to him, and chucked the wallet over my shoulder onto the floor somewhere.

I looked at him. His gaze was trekking up and down my form, stopping occasionally at the two more prominent parts of my body. From the looks of the semi he was building up I think he definitely enjoyed the view. Every inch of skin his stare hit itched and tickled.

"Finished?" I asked after he had finally returned his gaze to my face.

"Oh, no." he replied in that sexy deep voice of his.

Arrogant, as ever, I see?

_You know I'm right._

I crawled forwards until I was over him again, peering down into his now almost black eyes. I hovered there, enjoying the feeling of growing need emanating from him. He was getting impatient, his eyes every now and then flicking southwards of my face. It was fun to watch.

"Devil woman." He grumbled. I brought my lips leisurely down to his ear lobe, where I started biting gently.

"I know." I whispered back. He groaned.

I lowered myself, taking one of his sensitive nipples in my mouth and sucking greedily. I could feel his desire spiking as I slid my hands down his stomach until I reached the base of his length. I ran a finger along it, revelling in the yearning stemming from him. He gasped as I started playing with the delicate tip. I released his nipple from my lips and kissed my way down his torso. I paused when I reached his now hard shaft.

"Kali," he breathed out hoarsely, "don't stop."

Well, when was I ever one not to do as I was told? Ever so slowly, I ran my tongue up the length of him, taking in the taste of his skin. My lips closed around him, my tongue pushing against his underside as I moved down and up. I sensed all the muscles tightening in his body, all his passion as he thrusted his hips up to meet me. He groaned before very dramatically pushing away from the bed and sitting up. He heaved me upwards so that I was straddling his lap again, his tip urging my thighs further apart. His lips crashed down onto mine and his hands gripped my hips.

"Cndmm!" I muffled into his mouth just before he had a chance to plunge into me.

He sighed in frustration, but nonetheless pulled away. I leaned and snatched the little blue packet off of the sheets and hurriedly ripped it open. I had barely managed to slip it over him before he had pulled me back into position and pushed inside me. I held back the scream that threatened on my lips at the force and I felt myself stretching to compensate for the sudden intruder. Our minds connected again, our elation fuelling the other's own need. I grasped at his shoulders, knowing that at this frantic rate I wasn't going to last very long.

Swiftly, he leaned forwards and his teeth pierced the flesh above my bosom. I was sent spiralling into a sea of pleasure. My muscles contracted as he drank, my climax signalling his own.

He finished feeding and slumped his head against my shoulder, his breath ragged. I clung onto his shoulders and collapsed into him.

Maybe this Beloved thing had its perks, after all.

_Review?_


	15. Chapter 15

_Yeah, been a while, I know. I just haven't been in the writing mood recently. Hopefully things'll get back to their usual pace now._

**Chapter Fifteen**

"I like two-people-who-know-each-other-with-benefits." I muttered dizzily into the top of his head. "It feels _goood_."

Dmitri suddenly pulled away before lifting me off of his lap and placing me onto the bed beside him.

"You need to eat something." He said matter-of-factly. I felt a slight role reversal coming along. When was the last time I had met a guy who would actually be awake enough for pillow talk? I, on the other hand, just wanted to sleep after sex. "Your blood sugar's low."

"And whose fault is that?" I murmured as my eyes started to drift shut. There was a shifting in the bed as Dmitri stood up and five seconds later I felt something plasticky hit me square in the face.

"Eat."

I begrudgingly opened my eyes fully and picked the packet of Doritos off of my head. I pulled myself up so that I was leaning against my new nice pile of pillows and set about opening the packet. Perhaps food would indeed wake me up a bit. I surely needed to wake up. I had important demon fighting to do here. Or maybe just important sitting around waiting for others to sort out my demon mess for me to do here. It couldn't help to try eating, could it?

"Don't suppose there's any coffee in that bag, is there?"

Dmitri finished tugging on his jeans before tossing a can onto the bed next to me. I picked it up and read the label. Eww. It was a hardly-any-coffee-but-nearly-pure-sugar-and-milk iced coffee drink. When would people stop messing around with the good stuff and start drinking coffee how it was meant to be drunk – strong and without any additives?

"The sugar'll help you recover." Damn that vampire with his mind reading. "Besides, I couldn't exactly carry a bag full of steaming hot espresso and magically keep it warm over night, could I?"

He had managed to keep me warm over night.

Dmitri chuckled quietly. I threw the empty drinks can at his head, thanking my chugging skills.

"What have I told you about prying into my thoughts, mister?"

"Hearing isn't prying." Dmitri said while slumping into the chair across the room and starting to flick through a newspaper he must have picked up this morning. I was going to have to have Allie teach me some of that mind-barrier crap when I next saw her. This whole no privacy thing was really starting to bug me. If I couldn't be alone in my head, then where could I?

I shovelled several more Doritos into my mouth. "What are we doing now, then? Just waiting for the bad guys to show up again? I mean, after last night I don't really want to just sit ar- Oh my God!"

"Another flashback of your scuffed shoes?"

"No, you idiot!" The tone in my voice made Dmitri actually bother to lift his head and meet my gaze. The smug git. But that wasn't the issue here. "Last night! _Poppy's_! Is everyone alright? I can't believe I didn't ask! What happened? Philippa's ok, isn't she? And Lucy? Oh my God! Tell me they're alright! If something happened to the-"

"They're fine." Dmitri answered plainly, turning to look at his paper again. "Xander created a small explosion as a distraction. The blast knocked a few people unconscious, and there might be a couple of broken bones, but everyone was still alive when I checked."

"Oh." I settled down again, much more relaxed, and began chucking Doritos into my mouth once more. "Well, that's good."

I quietly watched Dmitri as he read. His face was blank of emotion as he concentrated on the words on the page. I suppose he was interesting, being a vampire and all. There'd never be a dull moment with him around. And he was clever, if anything a little bit too much. And he was ever so sexy, especially when he sat there shirtless like that all deep and thoughtful and what-not. But that didn't mean he wasn't an ass. A big giant stuck-up ass with too much pride and not enough laughter. Mmm, but he was sexy.

"Why do you live in Paris if you're from Russia?" I asked out-of-the-blue.

"Why do _you_ live in London if you're from Bosnia?" He questioned back at me.

I pouted. "Because _I_ was lucky enough to score one of the few refugee places to the UK when my entire village was burnt to the ground."

Dmitri sighed and folded the paper up.

"I'm sorry. That was a thoughtless question." Yes it was. Dmitri looked at me as if thinking about something. I was happy to see though that despite the thoughtfulness, there was no pity in his eyes. That was the worst thing about telling people. The pity. Dmitri shook his head slightly. "My mother's family is part of the Russian nobility. We were exiled after the Bolshevik Revolution."

"Really?"

He nodded.

"The Russian nobility are vampires? Oh, now the revolution makes so much more sense!"

Dmitri flapped the paper down onto the ground irritably. His face had hardened again. "First, I will tell you once again that I am not a vampire!" I snorted. "Second, no, the Russian nobility is not comprised of Moravians; it was only my mother's connection with a Dark One. Third, how the hell does that make more sense?"

"So…" I started, thinking this through, "…the revolution wasn't a bunch of pitchfork-and-stake-wielding villagers coming after vampires who had killed one too many virgin daughters?"

Dmitri's eyebrows furrowed disbelievingly. "No!"

I frowned. Pitchfork-wielding villagers would have been so much more interesting than all that socialism rubbish.

_And we don't kill virgin daughters!_

I bet some of them did.

"Eat some more food." Dmitri muttered as he threw a bag of sweets at me. He picked up the newspaper and continued reading. I grumbled under my breath. When would he stop treating me like an idiot child? I wasn't that stupid. I just liked to see things from a different point of view.

"What _are_ we going to do now?" Dmitri gave me a why-do-you-talk-so-much look. "I'm just saying!"

"Christian's waiting for some information from a friend. We should know more when that comes through."

"About Claymin?" I chucked the empty Doritos packet into the bin beside the bed and opened the sweets Dmitri had so kindly thrown at me, suddenly finding that I was seriously hungry.

"Paymon." _You'd think you'd remember the name of the demon lord after you. _I stuck my tongue out like a proper mature person. "And yes."

"You're in a sulky mood this morning for someone who had amazing sex twice last night."

"Maybe it's because of just who I had sex with." He remarked. Whom, not who. Who's the idiot now, eh? Oooh! Look at me! I'm a scary 600 hundred year old vampire! But my grammar's still appalling! "Dark One. And I speak eleven different languages. Excuse me if once in a while I make a small grammatical mistake."

I continued munching on the gummy sweets. Oooh! Look at me! I speak eleven different languages, aren't I clever? There should be a statue of me in every city on the globe! Bow down to my amazing linguistic skills!

"Even I do not have that big an ego."

I continued eating. Oooh! Look at me! My ego's not really that big! I'm actually really modest as well as smart! I'm the most perfect man there eve-

"Will you shut up if I kiss you?" Dmitri practically yelled.

"I wasn't saying anything!" I defended myself. I popped another sweet into my mouth. "And I wouldn't shut up anyway."

_You did last time. You could barely think as I remember it._

"Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore'."

Dmitri abruptly got to his feet and began marching off in the opposite direction towards the bathroom, clearly too annoyed to speak. He had barely taken three steps when I jumped suddenly at the sharp bang coming from behind the closed curtains of the room.

I stared at where the noise had come from. Dmitri had halted in his tracks and turned to face the window. I was suddenly terrified. What if it was some weird demon voodoo magic? It didn't really sound that magical. What was it then? I glanced at Dmitri. He glanced back and put a finger to his lips to indicate I should be silent. Slowly, he tiptoed over to the curtains. Standing to their side, he picked up what looked like a bit of old wood that had probably chipped off of one of the bits of furniture. He used it to carefully peel back a edge of the curtains just enough to let him see what was there without the sunlight hitting his skin. I waited, not having a vantage point on what was behind those curtains. Dmitri was still.

Then he dropped the chip of wood and looked back at me. A small smile was tugging at his lips.

"What was it?" I found myself whispering.

Dmitri just nodded his head towards the window. "Come have a look for yourself."

Clearly there was no danger then. And with the fear gone that only left room for curiosity. I hurriedly stood and wrapped the sheet around my still naked body, not wanting to give someone across the street a nice peepshow. I stepped up to the window and lifted the edge of the curtain, making sure not to cast any light onto Dmitri.

I blinked at what I saw there.

"The poor thing." I crooned. For there, on the windowsill, was a very dazed looking large black crow, stumbling around gathering its bearings after what was obviously a failed attempt at flight through the window. Silly little bird. But it was somewhat cute in its confusion.

"It's a pest." Dmitri so kindly muttered.

"It's not its fault it was born a scavenger." I told him. "Just like it wasn't your fault you were born a vampire."

"I'm not a vampi-"

"Oh, look, its friend's come along to help." I could practically feel Dmitri rolling his eyes at my back as I watched the two crows on the ledge outside. It was rare you got to see two crows this close, though, and I examined the feathers in slight awe. They were so pretty! I felt slightly bad about my lovely feather bolero back at my apartment knowing that it probably meant some of these creatures were dead. "Hey! There's another one now! Three!"

Dmitri chucked slightly at my childishness.

"Four! Five! Six! God, there's tons of them all flying up to our roof!"

Before I could blink, Dmitri had returned with the stick and was looking out the window too. I didn't fail to notice the worried expression on his face. He dramatically turned and looked straight into my eyes.

"Pigeons."

Huh?

"Dmitri, have you gone gaga or something? Did I really blow your brains out last night? Why are you talking about pigeons all of a sudden? These are crows, not pigeons. Pigeons are those grey birds you see everywhere. Mangy little things that spread disease an- Ah!"

I let out a squeal as there was a tremendous bang against the window. I looked out and noticed the new pigeon taking up shop next to the crows on the ledge. What?

"Shit!" Dmitri let out before yanking me back away from the window and basically shoving me onto the bed. He rushed over to the little dressing tables and started rummaging around amid the various foods and clothes he had brought this morning. "Kali, you need to think of something else! Anything else! Now!"

What did he mean something else? This was making no sense! One minute we were fighting as per usual, the next there's hundreds of crows and pigeons outside and Dmitri gets all flustered about nothing! Yeah, well, I admit that many crows is odd, bu-

"Kali!" Dmitri had managed to find his cell phone and was busy dialling a number into the handset. "Think of… think of… shoes! Think of all those nice shoes of yours back home! Concentrate on them!"

What? Shoes? Why did he want me… What would go well with those new Paciottis Dmitri had promised me? Those harem pants might work, but I'd have to wear a fitted top wi- No! Concentrate Kali!

I heard a quick mumble coming from the other end of the phone. Dmitri's face was scarily serious and he bypassed all greetings.

"Christian, she's a Caller."

_---_

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	16. Chapter 16

_I'm baaack. Sorry again bout the wait, had finals and stuff._

**Chapter Sixteen**

No, he was the caller. He had just called Christian, hadn't he? Not me. Why would he say I was the caller? Hang on… He said _a_ caller, not _the_. What was a caller?

Dmitri was silent for a few seconds as I guessed Christian was talking down the line.

"Right." was all he said before promptly snapping the phone shut. He hastily shoved it into his jeans pocket and began gathering up the food packets on the table. "Get dressed. We have to go."

"What?" I sat there blankly, not getting what was going on. Dmitri fished up my new t-shirt from the floor and threw it at me.

"Now." He ordered sternly and continued to collect anything that was not in the room prior to our arrival and thrust them into his bag. I confusedly stood and tugged on the shirt. I didn't like the tone Dmitri was using. It showed that something was seriously wrong. And I was not going to just sit around like some bimbo while the shit hit the fan.

"Dmitri, what's going on?" I demanded as I slipped into the pair of jeans. Dmitri put on the new shirt he had brought for himself this morning, the other being practically ripped to shreds.

"Just move. I'll explain in the car."

In a move that was completely uncharacteristic of me, I shut up and did as told.

It took less than five minutes for us to be out of the hotel and sliding into the car, which was probably helped by Dmitri's lack of manners, simply throwing the room key behind the desk on the way out. I had barely slammed the door shut beside me when Dmitri powered up the engine and took off at an alarming speed.

"Dmitri!" I shouted. "Explanation please!"

"We had to get out of there." He replied way too calmly while taking a sharp right turn to avoid the traffic ahead. I checked the clock on the dashboard. 16:48. Great, rush hour coming up.

"Yeah, somehow I had managed to work that out for myself, what with the frantic packing and us travelling through the middle of busy London at – oh my god – 95 miles per hour. We are so gonna get arrested." Dmitri appeared to consider this for a moment before begrudgingly slowing to a more reasonable (but still illegal) 40 miles per hour. Apparently vampires still didn't really want to get involved with the police. Just wait until the traffic really kicks in. He'll be ripping the steering wheel out. "So, _why_ did we have to get out of there?"

"Because if Paymon's looking for a Caller, then I'm guessing a roof completely swarming with pigeons and crows is going to be a pretty big hint."

Oh, that was so helpful.

"What, Dmitri Yurievich, the hell is a Caller?"

"You are apparently." He paused in his detailed explanation and added almost to himself, "but it makes no sense."

"What? Why? How? Who? Where? When? Answers. Now."

He glanced at me briefly, something I was not too happy about seeing as we were currently navigating through some pretty complicated back roads and I was sure even vampires could crash a car travelling at this speed. I was about to start yelling at him again when he finally gave me a proper answer.

"A Caller is someone with a connection to animals. If they think of a creature, then it will make its way towards them."

"What, like Dr Dolittle or something?" I asked surprised.

"No." He gave another typically unhelpful answer before turning onto a larger, but much busier, street. I just raised my eyebrows, hoping it would convey my feelings on his reply quite eloquently. "They cannot speak to animals, nor can they control their actions in any way. Their thoughts simply draw the animal in. And when particularly emotional those feelings may be passed on in a certain way. It's complicated and said only to be truly understood by Callers themselves."

Well that just sounded like a pain, not a gift.

"It is when not controlled properly."

"And you think I'm one of these Caller things? Because of a few birds?" I sounded sceptical, but I had reason to be. It wasn't as if animals had been flocking towards me all my life like some mutant Pied Piper. Without the pipe. And the pied.

"Kali, that was not just a few birds; there was every bird within a five mile radius flying towards that hotel."

Really? Wow. Well, that was freaky. But supernatural? Maybe there was just some really good bread up on that roof. Ok, that was a crappy idea. And Dmitri did seem rather certain about this, otherwise he wouldn't have rushed out like that. Dmitri knew way more about this kind of thing than I did and if he said I was a Caller thing then-

"Why doesn't it make sense that I'm a Caller?" I said. "You just said it didn't."

Dmitri sighed and stopped the car just before it ended up crashing into the one in front. I lurched forwards. Bloody traffic lights. "Because Callers aren't made." He answered as if I hadn't just nearly been thrown out the windscreen. I checked my seatbelt was secure. "They're born with their full powers and it's genetic. The gift may skip a few generations but it'll stay within the same family. You would know if you're a Caller. It's not really something you can ignore."

He peered at me, and then turned his eyes back to the road with a slight nod, as if deciding that yes, even someone as dumb as me couldn't ignore this for my whole life. I huffed.

"But I haven't been doing freaky animal summoning my whole life! I definitely would have noticed with the amount of pigeons around in Lo-" I stopped in my tracks as I remembered something I had completely swept aside in the light of all the demon crap going on. "On Friday…"

Dmitri raised an eyebrow at me curiously. "On Friday what?"

"Ok, this might be nothing, cause at the time I thought it was, well I suppose not _nothing_ but not anything really worth lingering about, I mean-"

"Kali."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Well I was on my way home and I stopped to look at this pigeon that was bobbing about in a fountain spraying water all over this other one that looked really peeved off. It was cute. Anyway, I started to walk away when this pigeon came out of nowhere and just landed on my head. Gave me quite a fright, I can say. Do you think that could be anything?"

Dmitri frowned and didn't say anything for a minute. I guessed he was thinking because he was clearly still conscious as he turned the steering wheel.

"This was last Friday?"

"Yep."

More silence.

"Have you realised yet, Kali?" he asked. What? Oh my God, he actually thought I might have figured something out on my own. This was a step in our relationship. Not that there was a relationship. And he had thought wrong besides. I had no idea what he was on about. "At the hotel you managed to Call several crows just by saying the word 'raven'. But last Friday it took what I can assume was at least a minute amidst a bunch of pigeons to Call just one to you. The strength doesn't match up."

"You think… I'm getting stronger?"

"It doesn't work like that for Callers." He snapped, keeping his right hand on the wheel while using his left to dig his phone out of his pocket and pressing a few numbers. I could hear only one ring from the other end before it was picked up. I supposed it was Christian as Dmitri went into a flow of some language I didn't understand again. That was really starting to get annoying. His face gradually contorted into a frown as the conversation continued. He didn't appear to like what Christian was saying but eventually conceded and shut the phone with a grumpy sigh.

"What was that about?" I asked.

He just looked even grumpier before almost growling out, "We need to go see Irina."

"Who's Irina?"

"A Caller."

"And?" I knew there had to be something else about Irina. Why else would he go all moody on my ass at the suggestion of seeing her? Was she an old girlfriend or something? Was she his _current_ girlfriend? No wonder he was mad about seeing that skanky pig-faced fat-assed bitch. She could just go screw a table leg for all I ca- Wait. Why did I hate her again?

"And noth- woah!" Dmitri had just tried to find a number on his phone at the same time as navigating a particularly scary looking bend in the road. Consequently we had nearly crashed into a van coming in the opposite direction, had to swerve out of the way and narrowly avoided running over a couple of young teenage girls on the pavement.

"Dmitri!"

He straightened out the car again and continued driving. "Sorry."

He started groping around the floor for the phone which he had dropped. "No way! Stop it and drive! Or do you want to get us killed?"

"We have to cal-"

"I'll do it. You just concentrate on not killing innocent children for a change." I shifted and tried to peer all around for the cell, having not seen where it had landed. I had been a bit too preoccupied with the whole don't-kill-passers-by thing.

_What do you mean 'for a change'? _I didn't answer.

"It's by my foot." Dmitri finally put in after a good ten seconds. Well, that made things so much easier, having it on his side of the car. Still, it might be better if we didn't crash into a billboard. I leant down and reached around by his foot, my fingers not touching any sign of phone. "Oh, because this is far less distracting."

"Hm?" I turned my face not getting what he meant. I then realised that by leaning over I had inadvertently placed my head rather too close to a certain part of his anatomy. I bit back a couple of nasty urges that came with that thought and continued feeling my way around the floor of the car. "Shut it. Ah, got it!"

I sat back up in my seat, my hand firmly clasped around the mobile. I switched it open and began rifling through the numbers, looking for Irina. It didn't help that everything was in Russian Cyrillic script.

"Hand it ov-"

"No, I can do it. You drive." Dmitri let out another sigh. Sure, it had been a while since I had read Cyrillic, but I could remember it. Hopefully. Irina. Starts with 'I' – that's the backwards roman N, isn't it? 'Er'… that's the P. Backwards n again. Then 'en', looks like H – should know that, it's the first letter of my surname. And then an 'a'. "Ah, here we go. Not so dumb now, am I?"

"I never said you were dumb."

I pressed the green call button triumphantly, then pressed it again. The ringing sounded through the car, now on speakerphone. I held it up so that Dmitri could talk without taking his hands off the steering wheel. The ringing stopped.

"Hello?" The female voice was girly and somehow just sounded like it belonged to someone beautiful. I didn't like Irina.

"Irina? I need some help. Are you in London at the moment?" Dmitri asked. I noticed with a pang that he didn't sound grumpy anymore. Stupid bloody girls with their numbers on his phone and him knowing their names and a stupid girly voi-

"Dad?"

I almost dropped the phone.

_Dad?_

* * *

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	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

My brain wasn't really functioning properly; it was too busy swirling with the recognition of what she had just said.

Dad? _Dad_? Dmitri – a _dad_?

That just didn't work. He was big arrogant vampire man, not exactly the ideal father figure for a girl. There had to be some mistake. Maybe it was just some form of weird supernatural greeting these weirdoes used for each other. Yeah, that was probably it. It was like that _Friends_ episode where Chandler calls Joey his dad… except he was only trying to cover up what he had actually said at the time…

I vaguely noticed that Dmitri was still talking to Irina through the phone I was holding up. I only partially recognised that we were now stationary in a long queue of cars at another set of traffic lights. And I definitely didn't care about why I was bothered if Dmitri was a father or not.

The only thing I was really thinking about was how Dmitri could fail to mention something like this. Sure, it wasn't as if we were best buds, but we had slept together and for me that meant telling the other person if you had a kid or not. I was meant to be his Beloved for Christ's sake! This was ridiculous… this was… this was…

"_You have a daughter_?"

Dmitri stopped mid sentence and glanced at me sideways, an eyebrow raised.

"Who's that?" came the faintly electronic voice from the phone.

Dmitri turned back to the road as we started moving again. "No one." Oh, no one, was I? Well, thank you very much, Mr Vampire. I hope we do die in a car crash. That would serve you right. "I'll see you in an hour or so."

"Alright, bye." Irina answered before Dmitri grabbed the phone off of me and shut it.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me you had a daughter?" My initial shock was evaporating leaving me with only a vague sense of panic. I had no idea why there was this panic, but there was. And I did not like it.

"I didn't think it was important." He shrugged.

"You didn't think it was important? This is your daughter! You're a father and apparently your daughter's a Caller and you thought it wasn't im-" I stopped. "You… you said it was genetic. Being a Caller."

"And?"

"Oh my God, your mother was one wasn't she? And now you're sleeping with me and I'm one. Oh my God, this is too weird. My life is turning into a Freudian's wet dream and-"

"Freud was a sad pervert with mother issues. And my mother was not a Caller. Irina's great-great-grandmother was. On her _maternal_ side. Something I didn't even know until she was born." He explained. I let some of my newfound tension slip away. Well, that made things a little better. At least Dmitri didn't have a serious case of the Oedipus complex; that would have just been wrong on so many levels… even if he didn't know I was a Caller when we had sex.

"So, err…" I was letting the curiosity side of me take control from the frantic, "is Irina a vampire as well as a Caller?"

"Dark One." He corrected before answering. "And no. Dark Ones are always males, just as Callers are always females. Daughters of Dark Ones, or sons born after their father has joined with his Beloved, are simply called Moravian."

"The difference being?"

"Moravians have a soul. And they do not need to drink blood, although they can if they wish."

Hmm. That was… interesting. Did that mean Allie's kid was Moravian and not straight up vampire? Still sounded rather vampiric to me, though – the whole drinking blood thing if they want tended to do that. And why was it that only dudes were vampires? Were they the only ones that were bloodthirsty enough? Or was it just that girls were smart enough to hang onto their souls? And, speaking of gender issues, Dmitri had never told me it was just girls who were Callers. Things just got stranger and stranger around here.

"Where does daddy's little girl live anyway?"

* * *

The rush hour traffic made it a pain to drive through London, even when just using A roads. I could gradually see Dmitri get more and more frustrated at being made to sit still for so long. I did point out it would probably just be quicker to take public transport, but Dmitri didn't like the idea of leaving the safety of the car very much. At least it had started to rain – something that did not improve the traffic, but did at least mean that he wasn't getting annoyed at having to keep out of direct sunlight as well as painfully slow driving.

It had to be more than an hour and a quarter before we were meandering through the smaller roads of the Greater London borough Richmond. I didn't usually go further than the borders of London Proper as I called it, and when I did it was mostly by train to other big cities. I stared out of the tinted window as we passed park gates and suburban semi-detached houses. It was quaint. There were even real avenues with trees on each side of the road and everything. And front gardens. Nearly every house had a front garden. But if I thought that was cute I nearly had a fit when I heard the name of where we were heading.

Sunnyside House. Strawberry Vale. Teddington. Just off of Bushy Park.

Dmitri couldn't stop my giggles for nearly ten minutes.

The sun was setting behind the rainclouds as we turned off the quiet road into a long winding driveway flanked by dense trees. We pulled up at the end behind a bright yellow VW Beetle in front of a thick hedgerow that raised a good seven foot from the ground. There was a green old-fashioned wooden gate in its centre, which looked more like a door to me than a gate and reminded me of that children's book about that hidden garden. Very kitch.

Dmitri shrugged his jacket off and held it over his head.

"Oh, and I'm meant to just put up with the rain, am I?"

He glared at me. "It's for the sun, not the rain."

He opened the car door and dashed almost quicker than I could see to the gate, where he stood and waited for me impatiently. Stupid vampires. I sighed and followed, trying to shield my head from the rain with my arms. My hair didn't like rain. It made it go all greasy-looking, which was not good.

Dmitri pushed open the gate and held it open for me to pass through. I did and actually dropped my arms in shock of what I was seeing.

The house – Sunnyside House, I reminded myself – was gorgeous. Tall grey bricks in that old farmhouse style stood flat against each other, creating a plain rectangle for the front of the building. The grey tiled roof was finished with little pointy chimneys at its centre, standing stark against the clouds. The front door stood bang in the centre of the building, tall windows flanking it on either side – all with white frames mirroring the white carved stone plates between the ground and first floor. Ivy was creeping up one side of the walls. It was the epitome of a Georgian country house. And it was big. Not quite mansion sized, but there must have been at least five bedrooms.

But it was the gardens that really took my breath away. For even in mid-autumn there were brightly coloured flowers dotted around the edges, contrasting the rich greens of the grass and bushes. The trees were in that uncertain time between green and gold, some desperately clinging to summer while other with only a few red leaves hanging on the otherwise bare branches. I blinked and held out my hand. Yes, it was still raining. And yes, it was definitely October. Then why oh why were there still dainty butterflies dancing about under the canopy of the trees?

I heard Dmitri shut the gate behind me and saw him pass as he made his way up the little garden path towards the house. I was still mesmerized by the impossible butterflies. They were just so pretty.

One flittered out from under the trees and stopped in front of my face. Then another one joined it. Then another. In less than a second at least fifty butterflies were hurrying towards me.

Oh, shit.

I let out a little squeal and ran down the path, flapping my arms about, trying to shake the butterflies from off of my skin. Dmitri gave a little jump when he noticed me from under his jacket.

"Kali, what-"

"Get them off me! They're going to smother me with their wings!"

Ok, so a little bit of an over-reaction, but still. It was damn scary having a swarm of insects chasing you. Suddenly they stopped and danced away from my skin. I halted mid-stride. Then they all hurried off towards the house, without me. I stood and blinked. Then I realised that they weren't flying to the house, they were flying to someone standing outside the front door. I couldn't see what they looked like through the rain and butterfly wings, but I could guess who it was.

"Inside." They said calmly and I instantly recognised the dulcet voice. Irina.

I didn't pause in my thoughts and instead rushed on up the path and through the front door. Dmitri joined me and with a sigh brought the now soaking jacket down to his side, dripping a large puddle onto the checkerboard floor tiles. I looked down at my own feet. Large dollops of grey water were left on the floor. Sorry Irina. The door shut and I looked up again.

Irina was shaking her long butterfly-free hair out after it had gotten slightly damp in the rain. Mine had not fared so well and was sopping wet. I internally sighed. That was going to be a bitch later. Irina finished detangling some of the curls of her light blonde hair and smiled at us. She was equally pretty to the house. Fair and slight, she looked like a little pixie. And there was a youth in her pale eyes despite the fact that she looked at least my age and probably a few years older.

"Well, Dad, it's nice of you to finally drop by. It's been what, a year?"

And Dmitri chuckled. If I hadn't heard him laugh like that once before I would have thought there was someone else in the room.

"I've been busy." He replied with a smile on his face that could have melted lead. It was a smile. A real smile. Not a smirk or a grimace but a proper loving, kind-hearted smile. I could have fainted from shock. Irina laughed and pulled him into a hug. Damn her laugh. It sounded like bells. Mine just sounded like a chimpanzee on smack. She pulled away from the hug and turned to me.

"And you must be No one." She said lightly and held out a hand for me to shake.

"Apparently so." I took her hand and smiled back. I had to admit, even if I had had a reason to hate her, I don't think I could have. She seemed just so… _nice_. "But you can call me Kali."

"Ah, but I thought No one was such a pretty name. Sorry about the butterflies by the way; they're the last of the year's. If you had come next week they'd have probably all gone."

She was leading us off into what looked like a living room. I was somewhat worried about leaving large grey footprints on the nice cream carpet, but from the fact that Dmitri was storming ahead without a care in the world for stains I assumed it didn't matter. Or that Dmitri was just that self-centred. It was a tossup really.

"I didn't know there were still any butterflies around at this time of the year." I said as I took a seat on the same cream couch as Dmitri.

"There's a few." Irina replied in that secretive tone people use when they know something amusing that you don't. She then tilted her head slightly and a look of pity came across her face. "You're soaking. I'll go get you a towel."

"What? Oh, thanks. That would be great."

"I don't suppose you'd like a tea or anything to warm you up?"

"Oh god, a coffee would be like heaven at the moment," I let out eagerly. It had been almost an entire day since I had last had a proper coffee, and my caffeine levels where starting to dip so low I was scared for my health. "I don't suppose you could make it really strong, could you? Like _really_ strong?"

She nodded. "One cup of double espresso strength coffee coming up."

"Thanks."

She left the room without asking Dmitri if he wanted anything. But then I realised that the only thing Dmitri drank was something that you couldn't really get from Tesco. I looked at him and narrowed my eyes in thought.

"What?" he asked apprehensively.

"How is _she_ your daughter?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… for one thing… she's nice."

* * *

_There really is a Strawberry Vale in Teddington/Strawberry Hill around the corner from Bushy Park. It sounds awesome. I shall live there when I am older._

_Review?_


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

It was a couple of minutes before Irina walked back into the gorgeous living room – a couple of minutes filled with Dmitri sulking, I might add – this time carrying two fluffy cream towels over one arm and a fantastic smelling mug in the other hand.

I managed to show some level of self-control and stopped myself from snatching the mug like a child, but I could still tell she noticed the speed at which I gratefully accepted the coffee.

Hmm, even the smell was bliss. Someone should seriously invent a portable espresso maker and kettle that fit into your back pocket.

"Here," Irina offered sweetly, placing one of the far-too-soft-to-be-real towels around my shoulders. I held the cup under my chin and gave a huge sigh, letting the bitter taste linger on my tongue.

"Thanks." Dmitri muttered, accepting his towel and running it over his sodden hair. I shut my eyes and took another swig.

Yum.

_You're enjoying that far too much for it to be healthy._

Oh, hello Dmitri. Nice to hear from you again.

_What? _Dmitri's thought came with a thoroughly confused frown.

I felt like humming a happy little tune. Life was good again.

_Seriously, this is just wrong._

"So," Irina's voice broke my daze, causing my eyes to flutter open cheerfully, a warm grin still plastered across my mouth. Irina sat down in the high-backed armchair on the other side of the coffee table and crossed her legs gracefully. She was smiling, but I could see the inspecting curiosity directed at me behind it. "There must be something rather serious happening here to make my father actually bother to visit me in person; I'm assuming it's something to do with what I saw outside."

"Uh, yeah." I answered sheepishly.

She glanced at Dmitri, her eyebrows raised in question, before quickly turning back to me and giving me an understanding nod. "You've lost control."

"Err…"

"She never had control." Dmitri cut in helpfully. Oh, thanks for that. Look, I may not be the most focused person in the world, but I think I have a little bit of control over my life, at least I did before all this crap came up, so I-

"Don't be ridiculous. She can't have lived as a Caller for so long without control."

Oh, they meant weird voodoo control.

_It's not voodoo._

Shut up.

"And that, Irina, is why we are here." Dmitri said cryptically. At least that meant it wasn't something to do with me that caused everyone to spontaneously start talking in riddles. Now I knew for sure it was just part of Dmitri's crappy personality.

Irina frowned. I rolled my eyes and chose to butt in before Dmitri confused her anymore with his bloody puzzles.

"I'm not a Caller." I blurted out. "Well, I wasn't last week anyway."

The blonde's frown only deepened. "I'm sorry?"

"I've never had any creepy magnetic powers or anything, I mean, I've got this issue at the moment, you see, there's this beautiful gay pirate choir boy, people were stabbing themselves with breadknives, and then my flatmate used a corkscrew as a weapon, and-"

"It appears Kali is developing Caller powers." Dmitri cut in and summed up nicely for me.

_You're welcome._

"Deve… Developing how?" Irina asked surprised.

I scratched my forehead, tucking a damp strand of red behind my ear and out of the way. "No idea."

She paused for a second, this time not even attempting to mask the scrutiny in her eyes, before finally she leant back into her chair and spoke. "Tell me what's happened."

So we did, well, Dmitri did mostly. I only stuck my nose in a couple of times when I felt certain aspects needed reiterating or indeed including – Dmitri didn't even mention my lovely shoes that had been maimed and destroyed, the heartless bastard. I did, however, notice how he was keeping a fairly major part out of the story. Not once, throughout the entire tale, did he mention the word 'Beloved'.

It kind of stung that he was so ashamed of me.

"And so naturally, you came to see me." Irina said, wrapping up the account with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Yes." Dmitri confirmed. "I thought you might have heard of something like this happening before now."

His daughter shrugged and tapped her dainty fingers against the armrest. "Afraid not."

Oh, pooey. Did that mean we had come all this way for nothing? Were we now going to rush up to Newcastle or somewhere to ask a different Caller who might be able to help? God, I was going to spend the rest of my life darting around the world asking different people the same question over and over again, wasn't I?

"Except…" My eyebrows darted upwards hopefully at Irina's word. Her fingers beat out a steady rhythm as she pondered something for all of five seconds, before decisively and quite suddenly she got to her feet and practically glided over to one of the massive bookshelves dotted around the walls. She returned a moment later, and heavy dog-eared hardback in her hands. She sat and placed it onto the coffee table, opening up the ancient looking cover. She smiled when she noticed my bewildered face. "Over the years I've become something of a Caller historian. It does help, of course, when you're immortal. Ah, here we are!"

Her eyes scanned down the delicate page, examining the spindly blue ink. "Hmm, there was one case in 1352 which tells of a woman being granted the powers of Calling, but she was given them as a curse from a demon lord." Her eyes turned up to me. "You haven't been cursed by Paymon, have you?"

"Uh," Cursed by a demon lord? Even to my untrained ears that sounded rather serious. I would surely remember something like that. I wasn't a complete nonce. I glanced at Dmitri to make sure. He nodded in response. I took that for a definitive answer. "No. No curses or anything like that."

Irina closed the book and narrowed her eyes at me inquisitively. "And you've never heard of any history of Calling in your family?" I shook my head. "Is there anyone else you could ask? Any relatives that might know?"

I chewed my bottom lip for a second before answering. "No, they're all… No."

_You alright?_

Fine and dandy, thanks.

Irina sighed. "Then I really don't know what's going on, I'm afraid. Things like this don't happen – they _shouldn't_ happen."

Great. That was helpful. What were we going to do now?

"You guys are welcome to stay here for a few days." Irina added warmly. "That way l can teach Kali here the basics of control so that she doesn't keep getting attacked by butterflies wherever she goes."

I blinked and turned to Dmitri. As much as it pained me to admit it, he was clearly in charge of where we were heading. He frowned. "That might be more difficult than it seems."

"I've told you plenty of times before, Dad, this house is perfectly safe." She said with a roll of her eyes. "It's very well Hidden."

I could practically hear the capital letter there and stuck in before Dmitri said anything else. "Wait, Hidden? We managed to find it fine."

"Well, of course you did." Irina answered before seeing my expression and elaborating. "Hidden is what we call a place or object that has various, well, I suppose you'd call them _spells_, extremely complicated ones, attached. The physical whereabouts of the item doesn't change in the slightest. It just simply makes it impossible to be found by any enemies."

"So Dayton-"

"Paymon." Dmitri corrected automatically.

"-yeah, him, he's your enemy too?"

Irina laughed her tinkling laugh. "Not explicitly, no. But no demon could ever consider himself my friend. I refuse to have evil in my home."

Well, that was sensible. I don't suppose I'd like evil creatures of the underworld coming around for dinner every Sunday lunch. They'd ruin the crockery.

"Then why can't we stay here?" I asked Dmitri.

"I never said that. All I said was that it might be more difficult to teach you control than it first appears."

"Why?" Irina and I said at the same time.

Dmitri paused. That pause make me think something else was up – something I was sure I wasn't going to like. Dmitri looked as if he was trying to find the words that would do the least amount of damage. I pouted. Spill.

"It's just…" he stopped again, shot me a quick look and turned back to Irina. The next words out of his mouth were a babble of what sounded like French.

Oh, no, he did not just linguistically exclude me from a conversation!

Irina was silent for a moment, before promptly bursting out in a peel of laughter.

"What?" I demanded, feeling my annoyance grow several more notches. I was certain these two were having a nice private joke about me right in front of my face. I did not like that.

Irina wiped one of her eyes with a finger, her laughter slowing to a light chuckle. She addressed her father again. "I'm sure that won't be a problem."

"What? What won't be a problem?" I pressed once more.

"You don't realise what it's like." Dmitri told her meaningfully. God damn all vampires!

"Well-"

"_Will someone please tell me what you're talking about?"_ I yelled, not wanting to put up with this any longer. If they were going to talk about me, they should at least do it in English! Otherwise it's just not fair!

Dmitri sighed. Irina looked like she was still trying to fight back the giggles. I gritted my teeth and put on my best stubborn face.

Finally, Irina got the message that Dmitri wasn't going to spill and did it for him. "Apparently, err, you wouldn't be the most… _focused_ student I've ever had."

I sat there, fuming. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

_That you're a easily-distracted trouble maker with the attention span of a three year old._

"I heard that!" I shouted immediately the thought entered my brain. Dmitri groaned. So that was what he was so keen to keep from me he'd resort to a different language! His views on my mental state! "I am not a trouble maker! Just because you think it's alright to rummage around inside my brain when I'm not looking doesn't give you the right to assume what I'd be like as a student! For your information, I was a very sweet schoolgirl and-"

_I doubt that._

"Oh my God, you bloody arsehole! You-"

"_No_."

Irina's word, or more the tone in which she spoke, effectively cut off my rant. Slowly, I turned to look at her, not getting what would have put that amount of shock on her face. She blinked, not moving her gaze away from my face. I twitched, getting more and more anxious as the seconds passed.

_Chjort._

What?

"You're…" Irina at last made out, her wide eyes locked on mine. "You're his Beloved?"

* * *

_Yay! Off haitus (finally). Sorry about that. I know I should probably be updating my Sherlock fic, but I just read In the Company of Vampires and it got me thinking about Kali and Dmitri again. We'll see when the next chapter comes out._

_Oh and I've made a music playlist of songs that I think go with this fic. The links on my profile if you're interested._

_Review?_


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